Yesterday I did my long run because I'm pretty busy with petsitting today and tomorrow. Sunday Dallas & I are doing another virtual 5K. Virtual races are not the same as actual races, but living in a rural area that doesn't offer many races, they come in handy. AND, they are usually for fantastic charities!
So, back to this long run.
It was pouring and Dallas wanted to run inside anyway, so we headed to the gym. Running really IS mental. I seem to do this thing where once I run a distance ONCE, I get it in my brain that it was easy and I can do that distance easily. Uh. Not! I ran 5.25 last week, so I wanted to up it just a bit to 5.5 this week. Shew! It was hard. I did it, I didn't stop, and it felt great, but it was HARD. I need to remember that just because I have done a distance one time, it doesn't mean that it's easy and I can do that distance easily the next time. I was a dripping, sweaty mess afterwards. I took a picture of my
That's about it. I feel like I should blog something profound, but I just cannot.
Question: Do you get in your head about distance? Have you ever thought a distance was "easy" or "totally do-able" just because you had done it once?
I actually had a long run like this a few weeks ago... I had 7 miles scheduled and when I began I couldn't help but think about how far I still had to go. It was mentally taxing but really trying to focus on one mile at a time helped a lot. When I get past the half way point, it is easier because you know you have done more of the run than you haven't! Hopefully that makes sense? lol
ReplyDeleteYes! Total sense!
DeleteI'm usually pretty good once I get half way, especially outside (visual thing, I guess?) because I know I'm "almost done" or have done more than half already. This time I had to fight myself a couple times not to just walk a bit. I really didn't want to though, so I pushed through and was glad I did.
I'm the same way as well! The first half is the hardest, then when I turn around, everything seems easier. My pace on the way back is always faster, probably because I know I just have to get back to the car and running is faster than walking. ;)
DeleteKim, I noticed that my pace picks up at the end of my runs for this same reason!
DeleteYes, absolutely! I used it when I was training for the Princess Half..each week when I was doing longer distances, I was like "oh, i can do 11 miles because I just ran 10 miles last week and survived." It honestly helped me. I can't run inside though! I can't get over that mental block!!
ReplyDeleteI'm concerned for those longer runs when winter comes back around and I'm having to get my mileage up! Hopefully we will have occasional warmish days that I can run outside because not only do I think 10 miles on a TM would be torturously boring, but I think training on a TM is different than pavement and I want to really be prepared for the race!
DeleteI definitely feel the same way about running distances. As soon as I do it once, I think I can always do it. But some runs are harder than others! Congrats on pushing to 5.5!
ReplyDeleteThanks!! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that does this! LOL. I'm glad you posted, I had not come across your blog before, just subbed with Bloglovin'!
Delete