Hitting the Wall

I’m really good at composing my posts while on the run. Lately, it’s been hard to put them into actuality.

Andy and I both hit a wall in running where we were a bit sick of running every day, which translated into I didn’t feel like posting either. But, I promised to post the good and the bad, so here I am, kicking my butt.

We got over that feeling, by the way.

Despite being sick of running for awhile, we’ve managed to reach our time goals for almost all of our runs, which is encouraging.

So my question, to runners and non-runners alike, how do you overcome the mental blocks you have?

 

A long run means a lot of time to think

Or fight. Apparently I was feisty Saturday morning when Andy and I embarked on our 9 mile run, which made me angry for exactly the first half of the run.  Anger makes running hard, but at the same time, it gave me a really good pace!  Fortunately, we were able to match that pace for the second half, and made it home.  Our goal on the second long run was to get home, however possible (meaning running or walking).  A goal for that run and the next was to push beyond when I wanted to stop running, and to keep running for a bit. That worked.

New goal: For the long runs, stick to a marathon pace or better to build marathon endurance.  Up till now, we had been pushing, but not setting any time goals necessarily. Now – kick it in high gear. For 14 more weeks.

Continuing Goal that I fail at: Hydration.

 

Blast from the Past

On one hand, the runs this week have been going very well, save for the end of the 4-mile run yesterday, where I practically sprinted a good portion of it, for no particular reason. It should be good runs up through tomorrow, when we have to run 9-miles.  I hope my legs can push forward for that long. Andy has been doing a great job at setting a pace and I”ve been able to kick myself into gear for longer, so it’s been nice. Last night’s run was along the Mississippi River.

On the other hand – the Spice Girls are having a reunion tour, around the world. They’re only hitting up LA and NYC in the United States I think. Not that I’m wanting it go, it just amuses me.

 

Air Pollution, Heat Indexes, Wedding Invitations

You’re right, those three things don’t go together.

However, they have in my life lately.  Monday marked another day of air pollution warnings in the Twin Cities, which meant no running (it was our day off anyway) and no mowing of the lawn for my roommates and I.

I checked the weather several times throughout the day, hoping for rain to magically appear. This wasn’t because I didn’t want to run, it was because the heat index was 98 degrees at one point today, with the real temperature around 94 degrees.  Rain would have been such a welcome relief if it lasted more than 5 minutes.  Luckily by the time Andy and I ran tonight, a nice breeze and a beautiful sunset seemed to make things okay.

Today was a good run.  We figured out that I set ridiculous paces for myself, meaning I push myself hard then tire quickly.  Andy set the pace for part of our long run and today’s run, and I must say, it felt better.  Score one for Andy!

Wedding invitations… well, Andy and I are in the planning stages, and even though we don’t have a date nailed down, we got a hefty book-o-invitations from someone where Andy works because he gets an equally hefty employee discount on invites. Score one for bargain wedding planners!

The Twins won today in the bottom of the 12th inning – huzzah!

 

Thunderstorm…’d

Since the temperature reached 90 degrees today and it was quite humid, Andy and I chose to run at a later time, 9 p.m. to be exact. After work, we went for a walk, exploring and attempting to find the river from my house. Well, we found it and ended up on almost a 3 1/2 mile walk. After eating and catching up on the Minnesota Twins, we got ready to run.

Today’s run was 4 miles, so we decided to run up Lexington Avenue to the beginning of Como Park. I checked the radar before we left, and “sweet, all storms went north and south of us.” We got about 1/4 of a mile to our turnaround point when Andy commented on how dark it had gotten. We decided it wasn’t that much further to the turnaround, so kept truckin’. (by the way, the beginning of the run was somewhat plagued with very tight hamstrings) An eighth of a mile later and we can see it starting to sprinkle ever so lightly. We turn around there.

It sprinkled a little. Lightening, a little. Each quarter of a mile the weather steadily grew worse. I think we both panicked a little because of frequent lightening and heavy rainfall, so by the time we reached University Avenue, we had sprinted a majority of it. Another half mile to Marshall Avenue, and I couldn’t believe it could rain heavier. Within a quarter mile of the end, it started to hail. The rain concluded soon thereafter. Figures.

But hey, you can’t say I didn’t finish this day strong!

On a different note, I seem to be able to maintain a faster pace as the training days go by. Sometimes it wears me out sooner, but I may actually be building strength and stamina.