Location: Jackson Hill –> Waugh –> Memorial

Distance: 5.24 mi

Avg Pace: 10:43
Avg HR: 182
Splits/HR:
1: 10:17 (174)
2: 10:22 (182)
3: 11:29 (181)
4: 11:24 (185)
5: 10:55 (188)
Temp: 75

The SMART training run was the Jackson Hill route. Maureen wasn’t there (boo!), so I ran with Hoang for the first half. Oh my god, talk about a tempo run, I was dying by the time we stopped for water at Jackson Hill. The weather sucked too - hot and humid. It felt like July.

During the second half, Matt hung back to run with me. I told him I’d be OK running back to the Park, since I always feel bad holding faster runners back. He stayed anyways, which was nice because it was dark and my hat light had broken AGAIN before the run. Annoying. Maybe I need to start wearing a coal miner’s hat during the nightly SMART runs.

By the time we were back near Blossom, I was struggling again and gasping for air. When I get exhausted or feel like I’m going too fast, my habit is to slow down my breathing and take long, deep breaths. I think I do it to maximize my oxygen intake, but also to calm myself down physically. Matt said I should take quicker/shallower breaths, and focus on forcefully breathing out. Also, to speed up my breathing before starting a hill, because it ensures there’s energy in the “bank” during that extra effort. I’m going to start trying to work on my breathing - especially at the hilly 13.6 miler in Sealy this Saturday.