Longer and harder.

Easy 2 mile recovery run on this morning's schedule. It was cold, dark, windy, 20 degrees, 15 mph winds, and the sidewalks were icy in places, so I had to chose my footing slowly and carefully. Still, as I made the turn in my out and back loop to return, and the sidewalk cleared, I realized I wanted to run harder. Maybe it was running next to the sea, which was as roiled and upset as I feel inside. Or maybe it was just the need to find that zone where everything goes away but me, my legs, and my breath. I increased my effort and let my HR run up into Z4 (and apparently even hit Z5), and picked a different way to return. I added an extra half mile which is not a lot of distance, but is 25% more than I had planned. And somewhere out there, I was running at a 10 min/mile pace. I wish my HRM would tell me how long I managed to sustain that pace, not just that I hit it somewhere. Still, it makes me feel like if I continue to work hard, and get lighter, and get stronger, there truly is potential to get faster.