I sure enjoyed my "no run" day yesterday. Knowing I was missing out on running blocks of 7 harder minutes made sleeping in just that much sweeter.
This morning, I woke (per usual) about an hour before it was time to get up and run, for that foray to the bathroom that just stubbornly won't move back an hour. As I crossed the hall, the voice of resistance that I think of as "my body" was already whining about the run. I don't want to get up soon and run. The new intervals are too hard. I think I should just sleep in and skip it. I can do it another day...
I dismissed the voice; the run has to be a non-negotiable in my life if there is any hope of it becoming a life habit and not just another phase I am going through. An hour later, when the alarm went off, I made a pre-emptive strike against the whine that I could feel rising by saying aloud "Okay, I'm up," and then stopping per usual to make my bed the second I got out of it (this helps me to be less tempted to get back into it.)
The 3/7 intervals are still hard. After the first round, it took me 2.5 of the 3 slower minutes to regain breathing that didn't feel like collapsing. I made it through all 7 minutes of the faster part of the 2nd round (mark that a 40-second improvement), but it took me 2 minutes 50 seconds of my next 3 slower minutes to get back to breathing manageably. The third round was again looser joints, lighter steps, easier breathing...still, when I completed it, I didn't try to do my last 3 minutes as a slower jog; I just stopped and walked. I was just done, though I was only 27 minutes into the 30 minute run. Truth: I'm not bummed at myself for this. I am progressing. Even my harder run is still a snail's crawl compared to "real" runners (whatever that is); I am still slow, awkward, and absolutely wiped out at the end of my run. But it's progress, and despite the little resistant voice that wants to call off, I'm feeling pretty good about loving my body this way.
I finally need to look into a water bottle and belt, I think. I never needed one before. I just didn't run that hard and it's only 30 minutes, after all. But now, with the breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, I am power-blowing by minute 3 of the 7 minute harder rounds. Power blowing with spit spraying everywhere (call me unsexy), and desperately trying to swallow as I feel more and more dehydrated. I don't think the water backpack that I use on my bike is a good answer for this...I think its shifting and sloshing would drive me nuts. So I guess after this next paycheck I'll have to look at one of those belts and bottles (though I don't think I want one of those multi-bottle belts...they look like just too much to me). I have no idea how I'll manage drinking while running, but I guess I'll figure it out.
After all, that's how this goes, right? I am given the grace to know what I need to, when I need to...and generally not far ahead. That works for me.
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