My Ever Changing Moods

Today’s run.

I woke up with the hope it would get me back on track with training. The antibiotic drops were relieving the pink eye. The chest cold was down to just an occasional cough. Even the road rash was healing to pinprick scabs. It was time to get back with the program.

We were scheduled to do a four mile negative split – two miles slow, two miles fast. Usually I check Garmin every half mile or so to see how I’m doing, especially when the little mile lap beeper goes off. Between starting in the dark and keeping the volume turned up on the IPOD, I kept missing the beeps to see my mile pace.

After finishing the four miles, feeling like I pushed myself reasonably hard for the negative split, I quickly looked at Garmin's workout history. 10:15, 10:19, 10:12 and 9:35.

I have to say I was disappointed, discouraged, disheartened, diswhatever; those times did not seem like a very good negative split.

Driving to TRIgirl coffee, I realized the math didn’t work out. I had finished all four miles in 39:28. Hmmmm.

So, after pulling into the Starbuck’s parking lot, I checked Garmin’s history again. Oh – lap one was really just my pace for 4 seconds (how that happened, I have no idea). Look at that – there was a fifth lap – with a 9:18 time.

And with that tiny realization that the fifth lap was really my fourth mile, it was like the skies burst open with singing angels, sunshine beams and vibrant rainbows.

I had a decent negative split. 20:35/18:53.

It seems so silly that such a small detail changed my whole mood – my perception of the workout – my sense of accomplishment. Like a day when the scale registers a pound lighter than normal – even when knowing it is water weight that will likely be back tomorrow.

Maybe the mile times shouldn’t have mattered – but I have to say the actual ones were a relief, a welcome sign that maybe not too much ground was lost these last few weeks.