This was half like me today on our 11 miler. I was sweating but indeed I was not happy. This was my first bad run, not bad as in, "wow, I am bad, I just killed 11 miles!". This was bad in the too literal sense. We got lost and grumpy in the first few miles, never a great way to start. Then we got into a groove but suddenly we were lost again. I hate stopping when you are in a groove. Then to have to actually think while your stopping in order to register where you are...no good. By mile 8.5 I was ready to give into the lure of walking. Oh, it would feel so good to give up sometimes. Today was a day were I had no motivation to complete the run. This was weird and a first time thing for me since starting the formal training.
Another mistake I made was trying a new form of psychology. I now know that I can run 5-6 miles without busting anything and following a pretty good pace. So I visualized I was running one 6 miler and then one 5 miler in a row. This worked "splendidly" for some girls in our book but not a good way to go for me. After the six miles my body started shutting down and wanted a lawn chair not another 5 miles. I had pushed through to the number 6 when I should have just stuck with the number 11.
So we stopped a few times and life savers were no longer any kind of motivation. Sometimes they work. We walked some and I would have never finished if it wasn't for Scott. He kept on plugging. I slowly hunkered after him. Not pretty. Ah, well, lesson learned hopefully. Know where you are going and keep the actual goal in mind. Mind games don't work on me, at least not when I try them on myself.
posted by Tracey at 5:19 PM
2 Comments:
Aw, sorry your run stunk. But in the training program of life, there are bound to be a few runs that are harder than others. For future reference, here are two strategies (mind games, if you will) that almost always worked for me:
1. (And I can honestly say, this one ALWAYS worked!) When you are feeling tired and beaten and like you have nothing left, straighten up your form. Make sure your arms are relaxed, that your legs aren't all clumsy, hold your head up, and pretend (I'm serious!) that you feel great. I have no idea why it worked, but it always did. I finished a race once that felt pretty crummy using this strategy, and at the end Dave Prevosti commented on how strong and refreshed I had looked. LOOKED. I even fooled him!
2. Focus on finishing THIS mile... THIS run... THIS week... don't let the length (mileage or time) you have left boggle your mind to the point where you think you can't do it. This was a hard point in your training to have a rotten run because you are at a point where you mileage is going up up up each week. Try not to think about it! :)
And if nothing else worked, usually my pride would kick in, and I would absolutely REFUSE to quit, refuse to let this run get the best of me, etc.
Good luck to you - you are into the REAL stuff now! You're not a weekend runner, or a two-miles-a-morning mom... you are training for a marathon!! So buck up, kiddo - you're doing awesome.
I can say nothing about the running part, because I am of the why run if I can drive there camp. However, I must give props for the use of Richard Simmons - doing Sweatin' to the Oldies was always my favorite part of gym class. Or, rather, the only part that I stayed for instead of going to the nurse with a faked injury.
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