Paced out

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A soap bubble, São Vicente beach, near Santos, Brazil

12 km 

59:59 5:00 pace 

Evening beach run, 27C - hot and windy


Turns out that talking, or writing, about running at a faster pace is considerably easier that doing it. I feel somewhat disingenuous saying my target was to run at 5:13 pace this afternoon - mainly because it was, but not really. I mean, I knew I could run better than that, and I set it as a target just because I knew I could do it easily. So it was a bad target and I know it. I knew it at the time but the first person I ever lie to is myself.

The good news is that I felt great, until the last two kilometers. They were into strong headwind and my average pace dropped dramatically from 4:57 to 5:00. There was nothing I could do about it, given the wind - and anyway, I had benefitted from the wind earlier on in the run and I know these things balance out. Still, it meant I finished the run feeling a bit like I had failed, no matter what stupid target I had actually beaten.

What I know for sure is that this slightly faster running is going to be hard. The runs themselves are not killing me but afterwards my heel problem seems to be developing into my ankle as well, and it's unlikely that this will get better as I pick up the pace and also try to run longer distances in the week starting tomorrow. This is not a manipulated or dishonest target: I want to hit at least 80 kilometers next week and I want to do them at 5:13 pace on average, or better. 

This target is a soap bubble - it could hold together and defy the elements, or it could pop and be gone in an instant. I have no real idea which way it will go, like just about everything else in my life. 

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