No GPS, No Map...

The temperatures have been awesome here in Memphis that last couple of days. In the mornings, it has been in the 50's, which has made for some great running weather. Which is perfect for training for a marathon! It makes want to break out the arm warmers and tights, but I think I would be getting ahead of myself. Tuesday morning I could actually see my breath as I was running!  Which was weird, but very welcomed!

So during the weekdays, my runs have been somewhere in the range of 4 to 6 miles during this phase of my training. As you know, and as I have been blogging about, I have not been using my Garmin or iPod anymore when running. I have been mapping out my runs the day before and going off that. It has worked out really well for me also. It really is no that hard for me to remember the routes, so I thought.

Tuesday I went out to a nice, cool crisp September morning to run my 5 miles and killed it. I wasn't even trying! It was awesome, so awesome that I beat my PR time I hit a few weeks ago for 5 miles.It was effortless and I could have gone faster had I been trying to get a PR. So when I got back to the house and saw my time, I had to go and check my mapped out route to make sure I did not miss anything, which I didn't!  So I was feeling pretty good.

Fast forward to the next day. A 4 mile run. Easy Greasy right? It was still cool and I was riding high from the previous days run, but it was a little harder for me to get out of bed. I had mapped out this route the day before suing the route manager from BT.com, printed it off and filed it with all my other route maps from previous runs (this way I can go pull out a distance I need and already have it mapped out.). So off I go, feeling sporty, but not too sporty, I know where I am going and feeling good. I get back to the house and my watch says 31:04 for 4 miles. BOOM! Bout time the speed is coming, I am really getting faster! I am talking like holding a 7:22 pace here! I am stupid enough to think it is all due to the cool weather! Then, when filing my maps back in to the drawer, I catch a second look at it in passing and something doesn't look right.

And there it is, I missed a turn and about a 1/2 mile of my 4 mile run. Talk about a kick in the butt. My 7:22 pace turned into an 8:53 pace. It sure felt fast. It was somewhat disappointing, but I know I am not that fast over that distance. Yet.

So tomorrow I am planning on doing an 11 miler, and I am working on mapping it out, the easiest way possible. I can't go short on these long runs.Long runs are easier for me with turns, I hate long down and backs, so I will see what I can come up with.

Also, I have been doing core work on the days I do not run. Hanging knee raises are my torture of choice right now, and soon will be adding to these workouts! I almost prefer the runs than the core workouts! I can definitely use more core work and hope to keep it up.

Stay tuned for a Daily Training's giveaway!  I am excited about this one!