Restraints

No, I don't mean this kind of restraint:

Nope.  Not this either:

What I'm talking about is restraint on runs.  I don't have it.  Well, to be more accurate... I lose it.  At the beginning I'm fine.  I ran out of steam on enough of my races early on that I learned to be more conservative heading out.  Sometimes overly so but we'll save that for another day.  Generally, once I get started I'm like a metronome.  As long as I hit a "golden pace," I'll stay rock steady for miles.  If I'm feeling good, I usually run negative splits.  (Which is mostly testament to the fact that I often start out slower than I should.)

Recently, I've been trying to integrate a little bit of speed into some of my longer runs to break up the monotony.  For example, yesterday I planned to run 10 miles.  The idea was to run the first 4 slow and comfortable.  From mile 4-7 I'd pick up the pace to sub-marathon pace (MP).  Then from mile 7-10 I'd slow back down.  It's that "slowing down" part that kills me.

Ok.  I realize that might sounds kinda cocky, but it's really not.  Proof?  It even happens when I bonk in races.  For the Mardi Gras marathon last year I was really sick.  I went out too fast (trying to stay with friends I'd trained with).  If I'd been healthy, I would have been ok.  But feeling like death incarnate, I was having so much trouble breathing that the muscles between my ribs hurt WAY more than my legs at the end of the race.  (I was using those "accessory muscles" in a futile attempt to get air into my lungs.)  The last 6 miles I was hurting a lot but I wouldn't let myself stop once I got that far.  I told myself I'd just keep moving slow and steady.  But everytime I'd start running again my legs would try to go back to the pace I'd been running... the pace that was too fast.  Which meant that I just kept burning out and having to walk over and over and over.  Good times!

So back to my more recent run, I could not seem to get my pace back down.  (The numbers are deceiving.)  I ran:

4.28 miles @ 8:59
3.28 miles @ 8:03
2.85 miles @ 8:38
for a grand total of 10.4 miles

When you look at the last 3 miles you might wonder what I'm talking about.  "You did slow down," but it was a major struggle.  I had to constantly check my Garmin, something I don't really like doing.  But when I left it to feel, every time I looked down I was back at 8:00/mile pace.  Ugh.  So much for restraint.

I'm kinda at a loss on this one.  Being able to reel it in is an important skill.  That skill helps you avoid injury (not running too fast on rest days), adjust to the inevitable surprises on runs or races and improve your ability to pace appropriately.  What's a runner to do?

If only I had those straps.
Or some self-control.