Back to training - vegas edition

So according to my plan yesterday, I was supposed to do yoga and swim last night. That didn't happen because I had to meet the oil man about filling our oil tank with sand, and it was an ordeal and a long story. So, that being said, today was the day to get back to running.

The lake near work where I run - the pic just doesn't do it justice

Today my plan was to run 1/4 mile repeats at a 10k pace with 2 minute recovery in between. Total mileage was around 3.2 miles 

A couple of things -

*When I first started and actually, even before I went out there, I did NOT want to run and really, was just purely going because I am committed to a race. My SI joint/lower back was hurting so I was worried about that plus, I've just had a hard time getting motivated lately. 

*I normally run without music but since I've been lacking motivation, I thought today I would try something different. Music was awesome and I'm glad I did that. I think I might need to use it for a while to get back into it. Maybe that's why I've been so uninspired lately, I don't know. 

*I forgot my garmin so I decided to use Runkeeper on my phone. I liked it because it talked to me while I was running 

The thing I discovered is that it felt good to run and once I got moving, the pain my hip went away. Maybe that was just a pain from not running? The music felt really good and made me enjoy what i was doing, especially the last song, so I'm going to use that for a while. I was using running at meditation time but since I've been meditating 15 minutes in the morning, I'll give myself a break and enjoy what I'm doing. Lastly, running at a 10k pace for 2 minutes was hard. I wanted to run much much faster. I typically do quarter mile repeats at an 8 min/mile pace but honestly, my 10k pace is probably more 9:30-9:45/mile. I haven't run a 10k in a while, but I am probably pretty close. So to force myself to run at a 9:00 pace for 2 minutes was hard. I definitely wanted to run closer to 8 and had to constantly look at my phone and slow down. I've just trained myself to run full speed for short intervals. 

I had on pants today that I don't like to run in but only had "yoga" clothes so it was hot, but other than that, it was a good run. 

The thing I was thinking about today as I was running was how am I going to tackle Vegas. I can't decide if I want to run a 4/1 or if I want to do an 8/2. I guess I'll do my long run next week at an 8/2 and see how it feels. I still am not thinking I'll PR, but I just want to enjoy the race and feel good. We'll see.