Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Now it is Tuesday...

Day 7

I decided I needed some sleep this morning, though Jack and I came home at an early hour from the baseball game last night, I was just worn out from the weekend, the travel, the everything.

Had a good breakfast and stayed away from the junk. A quick morning as I was in back-to-back meetings, trying to make all things meet. Not an easy thing to do, especially during tough economic times. I had a goal of a lunch time workout to make up for my skipping Monday’s tempo run. Really I just did not seem to have it in me today and it was already past noon, it would be real easy to miss this run.

This is a good time to talk about running and training. Today I was fighting the demons. I thought, why, why run. Do I really need to qualify for Boston, so what if I never qualify, am I less for not making the cut, I’m getting slow, I felt fat today too… what would happen if I skipped today and just did not run my tempo run at all.

There are going to be days of doubt, there are going to be days when you question your ability and reason, there are going to be days that you just are not motivated. Many of the times I lean on my running buddies. If you do not have running buddies, find them. If you know that someone is standing on a corner at 5:30 AM waiting for you to show, you know you will get out of bed and be there. Sometimes, it is the looming deadline of an upcoming race that pushes you out the door, sometimes it is knowing that though it is raining, that it also rains on race days, so you better get over it.

Today, I did not have any of these reasons… It was just me fighting a million excuses, I could easily have just said, “not today”, except for I knew I would not be happy with myself for skipping this workout. Today, it was a mentally tough, me against me, get it done day.

I stepped out of the gym, and could have stepped right back in, but rather I headed out, after all it was only 6 miles, I can do that in my sleep and it was Tempo run, 2 miles EZ, 2 at tempo and 2 EZ, what was the big deal. As a means of self-punishment, I decide I deserved hills today. The first 2 miles were a piece of cake, 1 mile down hill, 1 mile up. I was warmed up and ready to hit it. Though the weather was mild, the sun and running made it a hot day. I was targeted for 7 minute miles, the first was going to be tough, it was up hill, just before I hit my mark, I saw a friend drive by, it pumped me up for my run. I hit the mark and I was off… at the 1 mile I was right on a 7 minute mile, the next mile was going to be a slight down hill, 6:30, yeah that felt good, I cruised down another hill and finished my last mile up hill.

What was the big deal, nothing, I just need to get my head into it. Our toughest challenge is typically not physical, but rather mental. It is important I thought today to keep my positive thoughts, and when the task seems overwhelming, to break it into smaller task. Today is the only day I need to worry about, get my run done and go from there.

After my run I felt great. I hit a good time and felt better for doing the run. Was I still a bit tired in the legs, sure, but we all need to learn to run on tired legs. I know for fact that my legs have never felt fresh at mile 13, or 16, so you better get used to it and know how to run when you are tired or in pain.

I am heading for a bike ride following work today, only 26 miles, and I will spin it and not get too aggressive. Yeah, right.

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