Morning Ride/Run
The bike was loaded down with towels, the office’s bath mat and clothes for the week, but still made an OK average speed of 15.3 mph.
Went on my run this morning, today 25 minutes. It was a bit warm, but I didn’t have any major pain, so I kept my lap times up fairly well. One thing I am starting to realize is that music makes a huge difference for me. I have heard runners talk about endorphin release and the physical sensation of that, and I’ve now experienced it a few times myself, but it is always when I’ve been on a run for about fifteen to twenty minutes and a really good song comes on my playlist.
I usually run the .241 mile laps around the lake near the office in about three minutes when fresh, slowing down to almost four minutes when it gets hot or I start to get tired. Today I was just listening to an electronic music playlist I have set up on shuffle, and it was pretty uninspiring for the first 18 minutes or so of my run. My second to last lap clocked at around 3:40. Then on what was going to be my last lap, Rökysopp’s “Happy Up Here” came on, and I just kicked into high gear. I got my pace up for the first half of the lap, and when the C25K app told me the run was over, I broke into as close to a sprint as I’m capable of and finished out the lap in 2:38, certainly my best time so far.
It has me a bit worried about my dependence on music for good running. I don’t think I can use headphones during an event even if I want to. Still, it’s helping me get a bit more out of my training runs, so I don’t think I’m going to start running in silence just yet.
