The continued prayer is, “Lord keep me focused. Keep my mind stayed on You. Help me to bring You praise. I know You believe in me. Please help me in my unbelief. Amen.”
I got a note from Coach Dion. He said to log more miles because I would be running distance this year and whether I PR’d or not, I needed to FINISH.
As it often happens, Coach was right. I’ve been focusing on hills and speed lately, which tend to be shorter runs but this 10-Miler I have coming up is flat…… AND IT’S TEN MILES!!!! And sprinting up hills isn’t going to make it any shorter!
All the hills and speed drills in the world won’t help if I can’t actually cover the distance!
So getting in some focused distance was the goal tonight.
It was great. It was after dark, which is a bummer, but Daylight Savings starts on March 10th, so evening runs are going to be much brighter soon. Can’t wait!!!
This was the first longer run I’d run alone in quite a while. I’d do little 3 mile sprints on my own but I’d been saving my longer runs for Race Pace meetings.
I gotta say, I really enjoyed this time. When I’m running with others, I tend to be more focused on just finishing without bonking. In so doing, I discovered that I actually push harder when I’m by myself.
That’s odd. Most people push harder when they run with others.
After much cogitation, I realized that when I run alone, I am constantly doing internal diagnostics and daring myself to push harder. I think it’s because I know that if I push too hard and have to stop, I can… And for as long as I want. But I tend to take it easier when I’m running with a group. I would be devastated if I was on a team run, or running with Andree and I had to stop.
This is probably why I’m always alone when I hurt myself. When I strained my calf, I was alone. The time I bruised my Achilles tendon, I was alone. When I messed up my shoulder? You guessed it! Alone.
I’m not quite sure what to do about this, other than to be sure to mix up my workouts with team and solo runs. But it’s good to get a better idea of how my runner-self ticks.
ANYWAY….. I felt great afterward. Tight, but great. I had to get in a good session of stretches, I replaced my protein and sodium as soon as I got home and I got a really good night’s sleep.
This is a pic of me feeling good the next day. Wow! I gotta lotta Michael Jackson and running stuff at the office! Ah, well….. It makes my day.
See ya on the next run!
Good job. I have no speed or distance ....
ReplyDeleteHang in there, Girl! Being a new mom is it's own kind of race! Running is patient lover. It'll be there when you need it.
DeleteBesides, you ran a little bit yesterday!!! It won't leave you alone!
Christina, with no speed and with no distance, you do know that if you line up for a race you are going to struggle...
ReplyDeleteSabrina, you always make me smile, and as long as the hills, speed and long runs make you smile, we will be reading about your PR's in 2013!!!
Aw, Coach! You make my day! Thank you so much for caring enough to give direction. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I'm a devoted follower of your blog. You AMAZE me!!!
Delete