Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Thinking While Resting

Today is my rest day. I'm going to swap Thursday's and Friday's workouts due to a scheduling conflict. I considered swapping Wednesday's and Thursday's workouts, but decided I really wanted today off.

I had a great session with Coach Jeni this morning. We talked mostly about how mental I am I need to work on my mental training. She suggested the following:
  • Clock the distance of my running route with my car before running so I know how far I have to go on The Road before I start out. This will eliminate any surprises like Sunday.
  • Quit running the short side streets and run straight up and back on The Road. This should provide a huge psychological boost by physically running a little farther almost everytime I run.
  • Practise safe running by being aware of my surroundings, turn down my music if I have to, run on the sidewalk when possible, and just go run on The Road.
She also reminded me to be sure to regulate my breathing. This will be increasingly important on my LSRs.

After my mediocre experience Sunday I have been thinking about running during every free moment. I think I've reached another point where it would be easy quit. I haven't built up that foundation that makes longer runs enjoyable so LSRs are taxing for me. I was exhausted the remainder of Sunday and have been in bed by 8:30 p.m. every night since. It would be easy for me to say, "This is harder than I thought; I don't think I can do this". I admit to having considered quitting Monday morning. But I'm not going to. I really, really, really want to reach my goal of running the half-marathon. And I really, really like the way I am feeling and beginning to look. I really really like running outside all the time, especially now that the weather will be warming up and the sun shining more. I've made it through all the snow and cold and clouds and grey skies, I now want to experience the beautiful weather when I run. So I'm in for the long haul. Many many thanks to my family for their suppport.

1 comment:

  1. Great positive outlook and way to turn negative thoughts into positive ones! You are already in this so far, don't quit when you've made such amazing progress. Keep up the great work and get out of your head :D

    ReplyDelete