Today I went to the gym with the intention of running a 4 mile race pace trial, doing day 2 of week 2 of the 100 pushup challenge and 200 situp challenge. Halfway through the situps my iPod ran out of power. I was in a workout mindset so I ran anyway.
34 minutes and 14 seconds later I completed it with only one pause - because the treadmill is automatically limited to 30 minutes. I'm not a treadmill hog, honest, there are about 30 treadmills and only about 10 were being used. I'm a very conscientious gym user, really.
The run felt good. Not as good as if I'd just packed up my trainers and gone and done it outside later on but I was in the mood and I knew if I did it after going home it would be late and I would probably put it off till tomorrow or some such thing.
But the run felt good. It wasn't easy and I spent too much time looking down as the miles crawled by as there was little else to look at. Before the run I remembered that I found last week's 3.5mile race pace run incredibly difficult because I felt like I just didn't have the energy, and I was worried I was going to need the music to get me through it.
But the run felt good. The act of concentrating on my form to keep my shoulders and arms down felt good. I tense my shoulders and my hands creep up to my chest resulting in aching shoulders. I swear to God I can come back from a run with my leg muscles feeling fine and no blisters or anything like that but my right shoulder blade killing me. Also, pushups give me short-lived headaches. WTF, body?
The act of putting one foot in front of the other, managing my breathing, keeping my body going felt good. It would have felt better with the sun and wind on my face but it still felt good. And I needed it, I really did. After last week I needed a boost to let me know it's going to be ok and I can do this 10k. I've been overthinking training recently, worrying about if I'm training effectively, if I need to speed up, slow down, do something different, use my HRM more... so it was good to just set a target and enjoy getting there.
I now know I can run for 4 miles in very boring circumstances, since I run better outside, with an average pace of 08:33.5. I would not have been able to do that before I started training for this 10k. I now know I can enjoy running for itself.
34 minutes and 14 seconds later I completed it with only one pause - because the treadmill is automatically limited to 30 minutes. I'm not a treadmill hog, honest, there are about 30 treadmills and only about 10 were being used. I'm a very conscientious gym user, really.
The run felt good. Not as good as if I'd just packed up my trainers and gone and done it outside later on but I was in the mood and I knew if I did it after going home it would be late and I would probably put it off till tomorrow or some such thing.
But the run felt good. It wasn't easy and I spent too much time looking down as the miles crawled by as there was little else to look at. Before the run I remembered that I found last week's 3.5mile race pace run incredibly difficult because I felt like I just didn't have the energy, and I was worried I was going to need the music to get me through it.
But the run felt good. The act of concentrating on my form to keep my shoulders and arms down felt good. I tense my shoulders and my hands creep up to my chest resulting in aching shoulders. I swear to God I can come back from a run with my leg muscles feeling fine and no blisters or anything like that but my right shoulder blade killing me. Also, pushups give me short-lived headaches. WTF, body?
The act of putting one foot in front of the other, managing my breathing, keeping my body going felt good. It would have felt better with the sun and wind on my face but it still felt good. And I needed it, I really did. After last week I needed a boost to let me know it's going to be ok and I can do this 10k. I've been overthinking training recently, worrying about if I'm training effectively, if I need to speed up, slow down, do something different, use my HRM more... so it was good to just set a target and enjoy getting there.
I now know I can run for 4 miles in very boring circumstances, since I run better outside, with an average pace of 08:33.5. I would not have been able to do that before I started training for this 10k. I now know I can enjoy running for itself.
I always thought I was dependent on my mp3, but I've done a few workouts without it and it's gone OK.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the 10k :-)
Great job on the 4 miles. Like you say, doing runs under difficult circumstances like that can really give you confidence. Mental training is just as important as physical. I think you can say the same for treadmill running. Without the distraction of the outdoors and such, you just watch the miles go by. That's tough.
ReplyDeleteMe, I'm all about the distraction at the moment though! Music, outdoors, planning what I'm going to eat as soon as I get home... ;)