Wednesday, November 9, 2011

I won't let today discourage me.

Yesterday, I ran 3 miles for the very first time. Ever.  The max I've ever done is 2, and it was on an elliptical machine.  I was ecstatic when I was able to run the entire thing, and I felt great!  I luckily had my running partner, thank god for Christi.  Running with her kept me distracted and motivated enough to keep going the entire 3 miles.  It's also very helpful to have to motivate each other.

Today, I was on my own.  I assumed that running on the treadmill would be hard to sustain by myself without any distractions, so I decided to run the same street route that we had run the day before.  I did not do so well. In my first mile in, I had to stop to walk twice.  I was completely out of breath and I had a cramp in my side.  I was starting to get frustrated (and not to mention discouraged), so I turned around and ran back to our gym in the building.  I finished up my remaining 2 miles on the treadmill instead.  The running DID get easier, the cramping went away, and I finally finished today's 3 miles. 

However, I couldn't help feeling very let down when I finished because even though I did complete today's challenge, it was a very difficult process.  It probably didn't help that I felt like I got hit by a Mack Truck today, so I was already sore and tired. Therefore, I started to get distracted and let my emotions get to me.

So what was different today? What did I do differently?
* I am tired. Yesterday's run wiped me out a little bit, and I felt like I could have slept for hours when my alarm went off.  I'm also sore, I didn't warm up enough yesterday. I got more stretching in today, which was good. I needed it. 
* I apparently did not hydrate enough today, nor did I warm up properly, as evident by my side stiches. How on earth do you warm up before you go run? I also need to work on properly breathing to help keep the pain away. Deep belly breathing, not short shallow breaths from the chest. 
* I need to figure out the mental tricks.  I couldn't visualize my finish, I couldn't even visualize to keep moving.  My legs kept outsmarting my brain.  I read somewhere once that it is important not to let your emotion get to you during the run, to push though.  And while I could watch my time and mileage ticking on the treadmill, it became a mental challenge to beat the clock and make a point to show it up.

Oh look, "How to warm up": http://running.about.com/od/howtorun/ht/warmup.htm
Things to buy: organic cranberry juice to help hydrate and replenish and add to my water... and Epson salt, lots of it! :)
 
The important thing is, I finished two runs in two days.  3 more miles tomorrow, I can do it.

It has to get easier.... right?

3 comments:

  1. Just remember to keep going!! You will do awesome I know you will.

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