Training goal

I had taken on some part time work, tutoring a friend’s son, after school. I had been doing this over a period of about a month. I was flirting with overtraining, again, since this four hour /weekly endeavor was actually work, and not a recreational activity. I was still hitting the weight training fairly intensely, but I was compelled to drop my running workouts; it was too cold in the morning, and I was just too busy once I returned home from the tutoring job.
I had to stay late at work, yesterday, and had to reschedule my tutoring appointment. I was home with enough time to squeeze in a quick run and still be able to take care of our animals and prepare dinner, though. I got changed and strapped on my running shoes. Lucky and I were out of the door within minutes, and I set a slow, measured pace. This was my first run in almost a month, and I wasn’t sure just how fit I was going to be for this run.
The sun was still up, and it was an uncharacteristically warm afternoon. Lucky was excited about this whole excursion, and his pace reflected it. We traversed the streets of our neighborhood, crossing to the other side of the street, as we approached folks who were exercising their dogs. I was well aware of the fact that I would be facing a physical fitness test which entailed my ability to run fast. I wanted to build up this part of my fitness profile before this test, but –at the same time- I didn’t want to injure myself by starting up too quickly.
I experimented with increasing my stride length, and increasing my leg speed from about the 800 meter mark. Lucky increased his speed at around the two mile mark, and I actually had to reel him in, a few times. Once we approached the series of hills toward the end of our course, Lucky began to slow down, and I tried to maintain the elevated pace which he had set for us earlier on. I never want to push Lucky too hard. Dogs are air-cooled entities, and if he begins to struggle a bit under our running pace, I will usually acquiesce; not wanting to have him experience any heat-related maladies.
I began to find myself breathing more deeply at about the 2.5 mile mark. We had just finished running the hills, and it was a flat 1200 meters until we were done. I had originally planned to stop running at the 2.5 mile mark, but I still felt fresh, and wanted to push myself for the last ¾’s of a mile. We did quite well, that afternoon. I finished up with about 200 meters of drills (i.e., side hops, running backwards, lunges, etc.), and then stretched out on the driveway. Lucky was noticeably winded, and paced around the house a bit, after we came in. I stretched out on the Jiu Jitsu mats, while Lucky lay next to me.
This was probably one of the best runs which I had experienced in quite awhile. Having a training goal makes quite a difference in the overall tenor of any workout. It felt good to find that intensity which I had actually last experienced just after I retired from the ring, about five years ago. It felt good to be back.