Today, I ran 5.75 miles.
What happened???
I gave up and gave in to my body begging me to stop running.
In the book, Ultra-Marathon Man, Dean talks about pushing your body to its ultimate limits. He says, "If it comes easy, if it doesn't require extraordinary effort, you're not pushing hard enough: It's supposed to hurt like hell."
Yet, when I run, and I feel the slightest bit of discomfort, I let myself slow down to avoid the pain. What I really need to work on most is my overall mindset, pushing past the pain and keep trekking along no matter what. I feel like a total loser right now!
I decided to get up early and run on the Cumberland bike path. It made sense, since I was already up at 9 with Kevin because he had to go to work at 10. So at around 9:40, Kevin helped me pack up my car, I put my car key in my pocket, said our goodbyes, and I started my trek on what I thought was going to be a good 7 mile run.
I chose the side of the bike path that went along the train tracks this time, for a change of scenery. This path doesn't follow the swamp too much, which I like, because sometimes, some parts of the swamp can stink SO bad! I'm almost positive that Cumberland has some untapped sulfur mines around there. Gross.
I pushed it hard for the first two miles, averaging about a 10 min pace, which is not a comfortable pace for me. I had to slow it down for the 3rd mile because I was starting to get winded and had some annoying abdominal cramps. By the time I got to mile 3.5 (turn around point) I had slowed my pace down to about a 12 minute mile, which was starting to frustrate me, so I tried to speed it up again, but that only lasted about a quarter mile before I slowed down because I let my mind get the better of me. I kept up about an 11:30 pace until I reached 5.5 miles. I was feeling really tired and winded at that point and gave up about a quarter of a mile later and ended up walking the last leg of the seven miles. Pathetic.
Hopefully, tomorrow will go better. I have to work really hard at not giving up. Mind over matter. Easier said than done.
No comments:
Post a Comment