Lesson learned: On the days I'm excited about running, I suck. On the days I violently wish to avoid running, I kill it. Discuss.
Today met me with another increase: Walk 5, Run 6, Walk 5.
It's warm today, thank goodness, because my long pants are all muddy. I did things a little different today, and I'll be promptly abandoning these. First, since I don't know which roads go through and which are dead ends, I decided to map my route ahead of time today. Not that I necessarily had to stick to it once I got out there, but I was excited about the route I chose. I hadn't walked or run a good chunk of it, so I didn't remember just how hilly part of it would be...
Second, I decided to pack my mp3 player. It's cheap, so I can't do playlists, but I queued it up to one of my favorite "you go girl" songs, and checked the next song -- it's not one I know, but should be upbeat and the two together are 6:14 long.
I did all of this because I was worried about the 6 minutes. Not like I was worried about the 5 minutes, but I know I'm getting into the lengths of time that are going to take more mental work for me to get through. I thought mapping the route would be good, because it would give me an idea of the finish line I was aiming for. I thought the music would be good, because it's just two songs after all!
Off I go. Everyone is out and about today. Is it a holiday? I mean, every two steps, more people. No hellos were shared by anyone today.
It's about time to run, so I pop in the ear buds and turn on the mp3. Alarm! I'm headed downhill, trying to run slow (which I think I was), trying to get the tunes going. It said it was playing, but there was no sound. Screw it, I can't mess with this - I had run a block without paying attention to anything. So I gave up on the music, and spent the rest of the time worrying I had screwed up the mp3 by recording Conan's show on it (at a high volume).
Well what goes down, must go up, dramatically. Big, long hill. I was in the grass now that I could pay attention (I only ran in the grass about 30% of the run today). I was doing alright, but the hills just freaking kill me. I ran a bit further, and started checking the time. I was 2 minutes in. Damn, keep going. Round the corner, which is where I had expected the finish line to be, and I was nowhere near. I just couldn't get my breath today. It wasn't burning, it just didn't seem to be feeding my body. 4 minutes in? Screw it, I cannot do it today - I had gone about 2 blocks further than where I first wanted to stop, so that's good...But not only did I not hit my target, I didn't even hit my last target! Dammit!!!
So now what? Do I go back and re-do today? Do I re-do last week? Do I (I like this one) quit? I spent part of the long walk back thinking about how I suck at everything and I've always known I suck at running, so I'm not sure how I ever thought I was going to enjoy this.
My next run day is different: It's Run 4, Walk 5, Run 4, Walk 5. That's EIGHT minutes of running, but only 4 at a time. I've kind of been looking forward to this one, because I think I can do this one more easily than a day like today (famous last words). So before I got home, I decided that I would just move ahead with the schedule. If I can't do the next one, I'll start again at today, I guess.
By the way, I sat down when I got home and the mp3 worked fine. Whatever. It's called moldy fig for a reason.
Weather: 69, mostly sunny, no breeze, 56% humidity
Time: 2pm; Walk 5, Run 4, Walk 7
Distance: 1.69K (1.05m)
Elevation: +92.1/-93.4/net -1.3 ft
5K/10K: 51:38/1:49:09
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