Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Run

There is no better way to describe today's run other than IT SUCKED! Ever have one of those days where you just have a terrible, discouraging run? Yes today was one of those days for me. It does motivate me to work a little harder next time when I have one of those days. I am going to attribute today's awful run to the fact that I had to do it on the treadmill today. After my posts about the treadmill and being an all-weather runner, you are probably thinking that I am being a bit of a hypocrite. So let me explain how I ended up reading the latest issue of Mathematics Teaching in Middle School, while completing a 3 mile run on the treadmill. I arrived at work today shortly after 7am and found myself still at work shortly before 7pm this evening. Today was one of those days that I was really productive at work. I had really planned to get out for my run following a meeting after school today. After the meeting, I just got so caught up in my work that I never even noticed that it had gotten dark outside. I do not mind running when it is cold or rainy outside, but I will not run outside when it is dark out. It's not only dangerous, but running in the dark creeps me out.

So after my nearly 12 hour work day, it was either skip the run or resort to the treadmill. There is a small gym at my apartment complex, but it has everything that I need. The gym was empty when I arrived so I chose my favorite treadmill to run on. There are only 2 treadmills in the gym, but my favorite is the one in the corner of the gym. It has much better features than the other treadmill and makes the run a little bit more bearable. However, I still worry the whole time that I am on the treadmill that if I fall off, I will be thrown into the corner of the gym and my body will get sucked under the treadmill. Needless to say, I found myself constantly grabbing for the bar on the treadmill so that there was no way I would fall again. Maybe I kept grabbing for the bar because my legs felt like lead today. I do not know what it was about today, but this was definitely the worse run that I have had in a long time. I think that I can attribute most of the problem to my attitude and lack of motivation today. I knew from the moment that I walked into the gym that this run was going to be the longest 30 minutes of my life. I wanted to get this stupid run over as quickly as I could so I set the treadmill to a pretty fast pace. By the time that I had run 1/4 mile, I was sweating like a pig and had to slow my pace down a lot. The whole time that I was on the treadmill I just wanted to push the stop button or get off or let myself fall off or whatever would get me out of doing this run. I ended up being able to run 3 miles on the treadmill in 28:23, which is not a terrible pace for me.

Today's run was really frustrating for me. I really struggled to complete those 3 miles both physically and mentally. My body just was not doing it today and gave me resistance the entire run. As I was running those 3 miles, I thought to myself how are you ever going to be able to run 26.2 miles when you are struggling to run 3 miles right now. I have consistently been running throughout the entire fall so today's workout should have been easy for me. I know that I went into today's run with the wrong attitude because I was not happy about having to run on the treadmill. I usually leave a workout or a run in a really good mood, but today just left me feeling discouraged. I even struggled to write this post because I am mad at myself for today's run. I think that today was even more discouraging because I had such an awesome run on Tuesday and a really good run yesterday. I know that there will be good days and bad days when it comes to training. I just need to use today as a motivator to work a little harder next week and go into each run with a positive attitude. I sure am glad that tomorrow is a rest day and then I can work a little harder this weekend.

15 miles complete in 2:04:22 and only 205 days until conquering 26.2 miles!

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