I know. I said I was going to take two weeks off to heal my lingering hamstring pain from the half, but, then I looked at my (hopeful) race schedule for the summer and today marked the beginning of my triathlon training.
Of course day one said I should run.
You should be proud of me though. I’m cutting back on distance, especially since I want to go for the full marathon this fall. I’m only training for a Olympic distance triathlon in July with maybe a sprint distance thrown in somewhere. If my leg keeps going on the upswing of healing, then I’ll shoot for the half Ironman next summer.
AND I took it easy on the run today. I would just like to cement the fact that I took 8—8!—days off of running. As much as I really wanted, and needed stress wise, to get out on the pavement this past week, my legs needed the rest more. So, I foam rolled, iced a bit (probably not enough) and did yoga. The training plan called for 30 minutes of easy running which I broke into 10 minutes easy pace (10 min/mile) 5 minutes walking, 10 minutes easy pace 5 minutes walking.
I had a teensy bit of pain at the beginning, but it usually takes about 10 minutes for my legs to warm up anyway, but I’m feeling good post run.
I am also definitely still going strong on the 30 day yoga challenge and my body is screaming a million thank you’s at me. Honestly.
Monday’s motivation is a little late today, but I had a super early morning. I started my observations for my summer class, and wouldn’t you know it, but these high school kids get up and make it to first period by 7:15. Wowser.
I’m still in race-recovery mode this week, mostly mental by this point, and so today’s motivation stems from there.
This is exactly what happened during the race. My body, even though I was sore, could meet the mileage. I knew it could. I believed it could going in to the race. I had trained, and pushed, and trained, and I was going to cross that finish line.
But my mind, it just never settled that morning, and I know that’s why I ran the way I did.
I can say it over and over again, because I read it over and over again, but running is 90% mental. Sometimes I even think it’s 99% because when my mind isn’t up to the challenge, my body just won’t do anything.
And I know that flipping the switch and telling myself that I was going to PR is what pushed me those last couple of miles.
It wasn’t my feet.
It wasn’t my legs.
(Though those both helped…)
It was my mind.
I challenge you to pull courage again this week. Face whatever it is that’s making you back down. Tell yourself that 3 mile mark is only a mental game. Tell yourself that 2.5lbs of extra weight for that lift is only a mental game.
If you’ve trained and if you’ve pushed. If you’ve put in the time and if you’ve put in the miles, then you WILL finish.
Runners aren’t quitters.
We fail sometimes. We don’t always PR. We have bad days.
Runners aren’t perfect.
But we know the difference between saying not ever starting and quitting in the middle of a run.
Sometimes, not ever starting is a recovery tool. Our bodies can’t handle the run. We’re mentally exhausted or too beaten down to go a mile.
But quitting. That’s a different story.
That’s giving into the fear.
That’s lacking confidence in ourselves.
And runners, well, we’re just too confident to be doing that sort of thing.
Passing the Baton: How can you face the fear this week and believe in yourself? What do you need to do to get in the mental game?
