Running

I’ve decided to report my running times here because it will be better motivation to keep training.

I was definitely feeling sluggish this morning, despite 10 hours of sleep (I did not get much sleep the previous night). When I get on the treadmill, I usually start at a speed of 6.5 mph for .5 miles to warm up. Then I step it up, although the next speed is dependent on how hard I’m running that day. Wednesday, I went right to 7.5, but I was still feeling very sluggish, so I went to 7.0 mph. I didn’t feel as aggressive or motivated as I did Wednesday. I felt tired and thought that my body was still recovering from the excellent Wednesday run. At the one mile, I felt like quitting. By 2.5, I told myself that I will stop at 3, maybe do the stair climber after that. At 3, I thought, “just do .2 more miles.”  I thought that maybe I had a stored amount of energy on Wednesday that I expended, and now I was simply out. But after awhile, I started paying attention to the parts of my body instead of my feelings, and I asked myself, “Where is the pain? What is going on in my body that is preventing me from running?” I found pain, but there is always pain. The pain in my legs was neither crippling  or piercing. The pain in my chest and belly was the same. I felt a little nauseous in the belly, but again, nothing I hadn’t felt before, and I learned in the Marine Corps that is the feeling that must be fought through. I thought about my form, and realized I was being sloppy. So perhaps if I straightened my back and consciously breathed deeply and rhythmically. I lowered my shoulders and made sure my arms were moving parallel to the track. That seemed to get me through another 40 seconds or so, but then the desire to stop returned. I tried to get myself angry or excited or ambitious by thinking about various things, but it didn’t help very much. Wednesday I felt like a machine. I felt the same amount of pain and weariness, but I just ran through it without inner-struggle. Today, inner struggle abounded.  My mind was my enemy.

Well, part of my mind was my enemy. There was an obstacle, but I knew my body had very little, if anything, to do with the obstacle. I couldn’t dismiss the force, so I needed a strategy.  I thought that at my current pace, I wouldn’t get anywhere near the 40:53 run time, so I decided that the best thing to do is to incorporate much faster run segments (but not sprints)  to strengthen the leg muscles.  At 3 miles, I decided to do the following. .2 miles run very slowly, 6.0 mph. At 3.2 miles, I upped the speed to 8.8 mph, for .25 miles. Then back down to 6.0 mph for .2 miles, then 8.8 for .25. I did this until about 4.1 miles into the run. I shot for a more steady speed of 7.7 until the 4.6 mile mark, and as I approached 4.6 I was preparing to go all out. Could I sustain 8.8 for .4 miles? I didn’t know, but I knew that I needed to expend everything I had left in me. I ran 8.8 for .2 miles, then I upped the speed to 9.0. At 40:10 seconds into the run, I realized I might actually finish before 41:30.  I increased the speed again and again, and finished at 40:54. One second slower than Wednesday, despite all the emotional stuff. I was both pleased and dissatisfied. Pleased, because I did much much better than I thought I would do throughout the vast majority of the run, and I overcame the obstacle. Dissatisfied, because I was certain had I managed the last .5 miles a little better, had a been more confident in my estimation, I could’ve beat my Wednesday time. Oh well. Lessons for next time, and really the greatest victory is just having been on the track for 40 minutes.

Now, I’m running way behind on my schedule, but I’ve got the whole day ahead of me to grade papers. I’ve done my run, eaten a healthy breakfast of waffles covered in butter and syrup, and have done some writing, so I don’t think there will be as much to distract me from here on out. On to Dollop, which will soon be my new local coffee shop after next months move. Then I’m checking out my new apartment , back to Dollop for a few hours, and if I finish my work, I’ll treat myself to a beer at Bar on Buena and do some more writing.