Sunday, June 18, 2006

Doubting Miles

humpf.

not good.

Today we had a 14 mile long run. I woke up around 8am to say goodbye to Lisa (my cousin) and Evin (her boyfriend) as they had stayed with us the night before. As I was still sleepy from the long hard week the week before I went back and layed back down and slept to, oh I don't know 11:30!!! I NEVER sleep that much. NEVER! But sometimes the body needs to sleep and so apparently it was needed.

We started running at about 12:30. On the plus side, it had cooled down to a very nice, comfortable temperature and there was a nice drizzle as well. On the bad side, almost immediatly the arch of my foot started hurting. This has been happening on and off and I think it's just a warming up thing because it usually stops but today my head wouldn't stop doing the,

"You aren't fast enough."
"You won't ever qualify for Boston running a pace like this."
"Qualify for Boston? How about you won't even FINISH the marathon?"
"You are ruining Jason's run and screwing him so now he won't run fast either"

These thoughts are never good because I get all annoyed at the run and the slowness that it is becoming and I start picking fights with Jason. Although I still think he should go ahead of me when I am in pain and running really slow. There is no need for him to stay around a) a person running a pace that is way too slow and b) a crabby negative person.

So we bickered at each other for about the first 5 miles. Of course Jason was right and my arches stopped hurting by this point (I didn't tell him that then...I told him they stopped hurting at like mile 9), but I had lost so much motivation and had stopped to stretch many times that I knew there wouldn't be much speed for the rest of the day.

Oh I also should mention that it was raining when we left so I left Garmin at home. No need to break the expensive watch. I think we ended at 10+ minute miles which is a ways off our target pace.

I have to stop playing those doubting mind games so early into the long runs. If I had shut the hell up and just run and let my legs loosen up I am guessing we would have done the same pace that we have done for the last 2 weeks, but I lost more than just speed in those early miles, because I basically lost the whole run pace wise to my doubting self.

In the end, we finished and there is something to be said about that. I didn't turn around at 3 miles like I wanted, I pushed through and got through the run. I haven't missed one run or workout in the past three weeks and that makes me happy. This week we are working midnight - 8am and don't plan on missing any this week either :-)

We have a strides workout on Tuesday which I am planning on doing more correctly than the last few weeks. Faster on the sprinting part and slower on the recovery part.

And with that...ice bath here I come!

9 comments:

Jason said...

I don't know. I can vouch for the fact that Leah never lets pain stop her and powers through the runs. On the days where we slow down a bit due to pain, maybe I should run ahead, but then I feel sort of like I'm abandoning her when things are going worse for her. Just something I have to get over, I guess.

Then again, my legs were just about spent a mile before the turn around, so I was hardly a world beater today either. I was really sore when we got done and in desperate need of an ice bath. I think today was just a bad day all around.

I don't think that one bad day makes for bad training or makes us bad runners. We made it through the run and put in the miles. They can't all be perfect.

Full Metal Lunchbox said...

I always enjoy your posts because they are so honest.  We can all relate to those negative feelings from time to time, right everybody?

Don't feel too bad--at least you ran today. : I was so terribly hungover this morning (Cuervo + evil coworkers + mexican wedding = trouble) that I couldn't even run. Had to take a long bike ride instead.

SRR said...

Wait!!!! ...Are Garmins like Gremlins...they can't get wet after midnight?

Scott said...

Sometimes the most valuable run is the ugly one when you want to turn around after 3 and then run another 11. Bad run for time, blah, blah, blay, but great run for building (if it's possible) even more determination.

Iron Jayhawk said...

Good for you two for sticking it through. Don't stress about the time...the important part is that you got your miles in.

Triseverance said...

Repeat to yourself over and over again, slow is good, slow is good, slow is good. :)

Jason said...

josh-

cuervo ALWAYS = trouble :-)

jeanne said...

i think it's hard to run with people, period! I really really HATE it when someone holds back for me, so maybe you two should have some kind of agreement about how to handle these situations? If it were reversed, would jason (sorry to talk about you in the 3rd person!) want you to slow down for him? i'm slow and i'd really hate to think i was holding anyone back--even a perfect stranger! that's my two cents.

LeahC said...

i think in general it's hard to run with people. But Jason and I have been running together for over 2 years now and are at the same pace. However, there are times when he's having a slow run and i do go ahead. I think he needs to get used to going ahead of me if I'm not feeling good. that was the first time that had happened in a long time so hopefully we can stick together for the rest of the runs. I told him if ever wants go to for Boston, i'll ride my bike along side :-)