Friday 5/2

Having an accurate GPS watch is turning into a major convenience for me. Over the last three years, almost all the of the runs that I've done in the city have been variations on 2 runs. When I first started running again back in 2011, I used mapmyrun to plan a route through Charlestown that was 4.5 mi with the ability to add on an additional loop of 1.2 mi. As my fitness level improved, I moved up to a 10k loop that went out around the Charles River and back. After a few months, I combined these two routes into a 9.5 mi course that had the ability to add on the additional 1.2 mi loop, and being the odd runner that I am, that would be the route I ran for 90% of my training over the next two years. Once I get comfortable with a route and establish mile markers, I will do the same run over and over again for years. For some reason, seeing the same views day after day doesn't really bother me all that much. I think the major reason behind this behavior is because I don't trust my internal pace making which there isn't very much justification for. My splits don't usually vary wildly on a run, but I always feel like I'm running slower than I am. So, I constantly felt the need to check my time against some point of reference to ensure that I was on pace for whatever my goal was for that day.

Now that I am not limited by running routes with predetermined mile marks, I feel much more open to exploratory runs to search for new and interesting courses. The route I did today doesn't quite qualify as an exploratory run since I'm very familiar with the area and have run the majority of it previously, but I did find a loop that is 80% along the Charles with very little retracing and no narrow path bridges to cross (big plus as these are common on the Charles and become congested when the weather gets nice). The downside was that there were a few intersections that, when caught at the wrong time, can leave you waiting for a while. I spent about 4 and half minutes standing and waiting during my run which is absolutely not something I want to be doing. I was aware this would probably be an issue but wanted to switch my route anyway, and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed the run and will probably start working some variation of it into my weekly routine.

Like many of my runs in the city, today's run was flat. The weather was great at 65 and sunny with only a moderate headwind on the way out. 10.4 mi in 57:55. I count my mileage from Friday to Friday, so this was the end of the week for me. Total miles run was 68.6 with no biking miles logged.