{The Thursday Edition}Okay, so I am a bit behind on things and perhaps I didn't think Push It Wednesday through in all fruition. Here was my goal: to push myself physically in my training on Wednesdays and to blog about it on Wednesdays. This works perfectly if I get myself out of bed early enough and push myself in the morning to give me the day to blog. But if I am not so with it in the dark hours of the morning, and push myself later, it throws the blogging thing off track.
Remedies: Just go with the flow and occasionally blog a day later. Blog about the previous week - yuck! No way! Always get up early enough to push myself in the dark AM hours giving me all day to blog. We all know how that is working. AND....here is the fun part that contradicts the good solution I just presented....I am kinda loving having time after work on Wednesdays when dear hubby is home to go OUTSIDE and push myself doing hill repeats in a nearby neighborhood perfectly suited for this type of torture.
So yesterday I laced up my Saucony Virratas and headed out the door. I did ask darling daughter, aka little coach, if I should run inside or out. She said out. I said okay, I am going to do hill repeats. She said, do a long run. Dear hubby said, let Mommy decide. I responded with Mommy is not feeling 100% right now. You can read more about that HERE in my post from yesterday. Then I added I did 5 repeats last week so I will at least do that. Darling daughter agreed that sounded sensible but added if I felt okay afterwards I should do more. Okie dokie! See you later alligators!
I ran the downhill to the neighborhood hill I like to challenge myself on. It is a beautiful safe neighborhood and the hill is hard. I took pictures towards the end of my run but they really don't do the hill justice. Really, it is tougher than in looks. Why do pictures make hills look so gentle?
I can't say any of my run was easy. My cramps were bugging me. I told myself not to worry about pace, walk if I must, just get it done. On the fourth repeat I very firmly told myself it was Push It Wednesday. At the end of my fifth repeat I told myself I am training hard to race well. If training was always easy, I would only be cheating myself. Then I thought of darling daughter and I did another hill repeat for her. And on this one I stopped at the top, halfway down, and at the bottom for pictures. I felt less winded and went for more hills. Halfway up I was hurting and remembered I had an uphill climb home. I decided 1.5 more hill repeats than last week was a sensible progressive, ran down and took a side street little loop to get a little extra mileage before heading uphill home. When I got home I was winded again but happy. Now if only I can add more mileage to these hill repeats in the future!
Today I am feeling good for the most part. My legs aren't as achy after last week's hill repeats but my stomach was achy this morning. A different ache. I even pondered for a millisecond if I was coming down with a stomach virus or something but honestly, I don't think so. Overall I feel good. Just a sensitive tummy. So I took my sensitive tummy to the gym and hit the treadmill before work. It felt like slow start even though my pace was a wee bit faster than my typical easy pace. I am in the process of increasing all my standard training paces as I feel my body is ready for it. Even on achy tummy days.
I knew my mind was getting too focused on the ache, which wasn't anything serious, and would impact my run if I didn't take control of the situation. I can't control the ache. I can control my mind. I already knew the ache wasn't a true pain indicating anything major; therefore, I knew I could run. And I knew if I focused on the ache it would appear to become a pain and I would be tempted to stop. So here comes the mind games! In the process, I created a new treadmill workout idea that I will be posting soon. So stay tuned for 3-2-1 Boredom Busters! Okay, I wasn't really bored but in all reality, anyone could use the same strategy to distract their mind from niggles and or other things getting in the way.
It feels really good to have run 5.19 miles before work. It feels awesome giving myself some extra time after work to take darling daughter to the library. I embrace the opportunity of perhaps running a double today. But if I don't, I am on schedule with what I wanted to run today, 5 miles, done. And how is my stomach? Better after the run than before.Daily Gratitude: I am thankful for appreciation at work and the yummy pizza we received.
Daily Affirmation: I deserve to be happy.
