Running - weirdly fast

Sienna (yoga teacher number 2) explained that she knows how she will be when she runs from the moment she wakes up in the morning. I am the complete opposite of that. I have no idea how I will run until I start running, and even during the run I don't have a clear perception of how I feel or how fast I'm going.

I've had a bit of a bad back recently and it was 88 degrees out, so I set my GPS virtual running partner to 8.30 minute mile pace. After the first mile I was surprised to see my lap counter register 8.01. Even more surprised to see 7:42 for the more difficult 2nd mile (all on trails). In the end I averaged 7:44 for 4 miles and felt that I could have run longer too. Apparently, this 4 mile effort burned 600 calories. Quite unbelievable that 2 Venti Chai Lattes from Starbucks provides sufficient fuel for that and some left over!

I guess I can tell that food the night before, good sleep and reasonable ambient temperature have a big effect on my running potential. Also, the effect of other recent exercises seems pretty huge too.

Hmmm - the running puzzle...