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Confession: I ditched my watch and ran faster than I have in weeks

Weeks after Allegra has completed her goal race, she's getting used to running just for the thrill of it.

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Confession: I ditched my watch and ran faster than I have in weeks.

It’s finally the summer and, for me, the off-season. While I’m still getting out there, my goal race was May 1 and I’ve enjoyed taking the last six weeks to recover and just run when I feel like it. Sure, I’ve been getting a bit stir crazy as many of my running friends have already started their training programs for their fall marathons, but hey, I feel that this is some much deserved rest.

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At the same time, I’ve been finding it challenging to go out for a run without a pace goal in mind. From the start of January through to May 1, all of my training runs were based on a pace goal. Even my recovery runs had a suggested pace. Now that I’m not training for anything, I’m finding it hard to know when to kick it up a notch and run quickly and when taking it slow is OK. There’s nothing worse than hearing your watch beep at the end of your last kilometre and thinking how slow it is compared to others runs where I have been working much harder.

This past week, I went out with my Tuesday morning run crew and hit the road at 6 a.m. They’re a fast group, and I didn’t want to be stressed about pace and feel like I had lost my fitness so I decided that I wouldn’t look at my watch and just run by feel.

Once I fell into my usual rhythm, I stopped thinking about pace entirely and just focused on my breathing. I felt challenged, but not like I was out of breath. Back when I trained in the spring, this feeling was referred to as my aerobic pace, usually set for a Saturday morning run between 10 and 12K or for Sunday long runs.

By the end of my Tuesday morning 8K, I felt mentally refreshed and positive. I realized that those were feelings that had been missing from my previous runs. I had’t been so caught up with the purpose for my workout, like pace, or distance, or progress. This run was simply to get out there and keep my fitness up and enjoy coffee afterwards with my friends on a summer morning before work.

Of course, I couldn’t resist checking my watch after it was done though. In the end, I ran an average pace of 4:45 per kilometre which was not only the fastest time I’d seen on my watch since my race, but it also the best I’d felt after a run in weeks.

In the thick of training it can be a challenge sometimes to remember why we run. As I continue to enjoy my last few weeks of the off-season, I’m looking forward to ditching my watch more often and finding joy in the ritual of running in both the gorgeous summer weather and time spent with friends afterwards. Run like these are good to keep us grounded.

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