Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Redemption: The Uphill Battle
Today's Run: 3.0 miles
Run Time: 30 minutes
Total Miles to Date: 932.3
Thoughts on the Run:
Part of the reason I share this journal is so that the readers understand just because I made a tremendous change in my life and have been training consistently for nearly a decade now, doesn't mean it's easy or I don't have my challenges. While it does become more of a habit and your inclination is more towards working out than not, there are still struggles and mind games.
I'm a little fortunate because I have experience, habit, and routine, and more importantly I have the hundreds of blog readers who are my "accountability" group. You can't imagine how motivating it is to say, "I'm going to quit today ... no, wait, then I'll either have to write about quitting or just skip my blog and they'll know ... wait, I think I CAN do this." LOL ... sometimes pain is a positive motivator.
This morning was a challenge because once again I just didn't feel in the game. I came downstairs and always bring my gear because usually once I'm awake, I'm good to go, but I felt miserable. It was 28 degrees outside and the humidity is 50%. No way. There was no real way to shuffle my schedule so I was ready to throw up my hands in defeat.
I don't like my treadmill because it is consumer, not commercial, grade and so at my weight it doesn't like to run flat (friction gets too hot). So I have to run at an incline.
I was just about to throw in the towel when I sat back and thought about what that meant. I'm not a quitter and there was no real reason to give in. Why was I resisting? Maybe some self-sabotage and an excuse to feel sorry for myself? I'm above all that.
Truth is, there was no real reason. I was just making weak excuses.
So I headed downstairs, put the treadmill on a 6.5 incline (I told you it was an uphill battle) and began to redeem myself for wanting to quit.
I was not about to engage in a boring run so I decided to get creative. I started out in cycles of 5.0 mph, then 6.0 mph, then 7.0 mph, then I'd drop back to 5.1, 6.1, 7.1. That worked well until about 5.5 mph and then at the 7.5 I was struggling (remember, I'm going on a steep incline the entire time). So, I dropped back to 5.0 mph and worked my way up to 6.0 mph adding 0.1 every minute.
I was just over 2.0 miles when I started walking back down. This time I'd wait two minutes before dropping 0.1 miles.
It's all mind games to keep it interesting. I was actually starting to get a little dizzy, gasping for air, feeling like my chest would explode, my feet pounding, and just reached 3.0 miles. My goal was 4.0 miles but right then the treadmill gave me it's own mini-blessing: it gave up the ghost, made a cruel beeping sound and flashed red error warnings in my face. Right at 3 miles.
I stepped off the defeated piece of equipment. I thought I was imagining light steps, but the reality of mass and gravity took their toll on the belt and the poor thing just couldn't keep up. Because of the steep incline and intervals I had burned a whopping 700 calories. Of course, it's all relative (I don't take the machines at face value, just numeric).
It was a victory because I don't have to miss any of my schedule. Even though it was a mile short of the scheduled workout, I actually have a 3 mile workout planned for Thursday. So, in keeping with my philosophy of adapting, I just swapped the workouts ... today was the 3-miler, I'll make the 4-miler on Thursday and still reach my goal for the week.
How's that for redemption?
I'm glad I didn't give up or quite, and that I can write to you about victory and not defeat. Now it's time to wake up my daughter and have some breakfast with her.
Have a blessed day,
Run Time: 30 minutes
Total Miles to Date: 932.3
Thoughts on the Run:
Part of the reason I share this journal is so that the readers understand just because I made a tremendous change in my life and have been training consistently for nearly a decade now, doesn't mean it's easy or I don't have my challenges. While it does become more of a habit and your inclination is more towards working out than not, there are still struggles and mind games.
I'm a little fortunate because I have experience, habit, and routine, and more importantly I have the hundreds of blog readers who are my "accountability" group. You can't imagine how motivating it is to say, "I'm going to quit today ... no, wait, then I'll either have to write about quitting or just skip my blog and they'll know ... wait, I think I CAN do this." LOL ... sometimes pain is a positive motivator.
This morning was a challenge because once again I just didn't feel in the game. I came downstairs and always bring my gear because usually once I'm awake, I'm good to go, but I felt miserable. It was 28 degrees outside and the humidity is 50%. No way. There was no real way to shuffle my schedule so I was ready to throw up my hands in defeat.
I don't like my treadmill because it is consumer, not commercial, grade and so at my weight it doesn't like to run flat (friction gets too hot). So I have to run at an incline.
I was just about to throw in the towel when I sat back and thought about what that meant. I'm not a quitter and there was no real reason to give in. Why was I resisting? Maybe some self-sabotage and an excuse to feel sorry for myself? I'm above all that.
Truth is, there was no real reason. I was just making weak excuses.
So I headed downstairs, put the treadmill on a 6.5 incline (I told you it was an uphill battle) and began to redeem myself for wanting to quit.
I was not about to engage in a boring run so I decided to get creative. I started out in cycles of 5.0 mph, then 6.0 mph, then 7.0 mph, then I'd drop back to 5.1, 6.1, 7.1. That worked well until about 5.5 mph and then at the 7.5 I was struggling (remember, I'm going on a steep incline the entire time). So, I dropped back to 5.0 mph and worked my way up to 6.0 mph adding 0.1 every minute.
I was just over 2.0 miles when I started walking back down. This time I'd wait two minutes before dropping 0.1 miles.
It's all mind games to keep it interesting. I was actually starting to get a little dizzy, gasping for air, feeling like my chest would explode, my feet pounding, and just reached 3.0 miles. My goal was 4.0 miles but right then the treadmill gave me it's own mini-blessing: it gave up the ghost, made a cruel beeping sound and flashed red error warnings in my face. Right at 3 miles.
I stepped off the defeated piece of equipment. I thought I was imagining light steps, but the reality of mass and gravity took their toll on the belt and the poor thing just couldn't keep up. Because of the steep incline and intervals I had burned a whopping 700 calories. Of course, it's all relative (I don't take the machines at face value, just numeric).
It was a victory because I don't have to miss any of my schedule. Even though it was a mile short of the scheduled workout, I actually have a 3 mile workout planned for Thursday. So, in keeping with my philosophy of adapting, I just swapped the workouts ... today was the 3-miler, I'll make the 4-miler on Thursday and still reach my goal for the week.
How's that for redemption?
I'm glad I didn't give up or quite, and that I can write to you about victory and not defeat. Now it's time to wake up my daughter and have some breakfast with her.
Have a blessed day,
Labels: hill running, redemption, treadmill
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