Today's run:
Half Marathon Training Week Seven, Day Three (7 mile run)
7.49 miles/1:38:30
My first seven mile run of all time has now been completed! If I had any energy left, I would probably do a cheer. Instead, I am channeling all of my energy into typing. No, really. I had to take a break from typing the word "channeling" to yawn because I didn't think I could type and yawn at the same time. This is how exhausted running seven miles made me.
Overall, I'm very proud of myself... and thrilled that my mom is a very nice woman who will pick me up at the end of long runs so I don't have to run hills to get home. But this was an incredibly challenging run. Interestingly enough, I think it was actually more challenging for me mentally than physically. Yes, my legs were heavy and tired, but it was my brain that really wanted to quit. I actually did almost quit about halfway through. But I kept telling myself that I was strong and that I could do this. I thought of my bestie Chalene, who regularly reminds me to speak to myself in a positive voice.
Of course, if I had those legs, I would constantly speak to myself in a positive voice.
It turns out I have a lot of negative voices in my head and very few positive ones. So while there were several boisterous opinions about my failings bouncing around, there was just a very small voice saying, "It's okay, just keep running, you can do this." It's amazing I heard it at all. I am going to have to work on that - letting go of my negative voices.
Physically, the run wasn't too bad. I am finding that the first few miles are actually a lot harder than the last few for me. I think for the first two or three, my body just keeps saying, "Seriously? We're doing this? Are you sure you want to keep doing this?" And so I drag my feet and question my abilities and worry and freak out about pacing. But after that, my body resigns itself... "Well, damn, I guess you're not going to stop running. All right. I give up." That being said, Lefty the Angry Hammy did make an appearance again today, presenting itself at around 2.5 miles, and never leaving. Lefty is wearing out his welcome. I came home and stretched for a while and sticked it, so I'm hoping that helps. This week, I'm going to try using the Stick after every workout - normally I use it after running, and kind of only when I remember, so I'm going to add it into my post-Turbo routine as well and see how that goes.
Benefits of the run? I got to meet a black and white kitty (and yes, I stopped my Garmin and my iPod just so I could pet a cat for a few minutes... I am desperate for cat love), saw the sun rise, saw several deer having a nice grassy breakfast, and... oh yeah, ate half a Snickers bar.
Chocolatey perfection.
I think that's the first Snickers I've had since last Halloween. Not going to lie, I love me some Snickers, but it is kind of odd to be eating that at 5:45 in the morning. I'm not sure how well it worked for me, either. I crashed HARD during this run. But that might also be a combination of factors - I left a half hour later than I did for my 6 mile run, so it was a little hotter, and I was rationing out the Cytomax, which left me very thirsty. Note to self: BUY A CAMELBAK, FOOL. Plus, I only got about 6 hours of sleep, and I was sore from yesterday's 20 minutes of Turbo followed by manic packing and zero stretching. But boy did that Snickers get me out of bed... I was really having trouble getting up, and the second I thought of the Snickers bar, I jumped right out. Proving that you can take the fat off of the girl, but you can't get it out of her head. Or something like that. I told you I was tired.
Sidenote: if you noticed that my mileage on dailymile (or my sidebar) and/or the number of cheeseburgers it says I earned on my sidebar went WAY up, it's because I finally took the time to update my dailymile account and add in several weeks of runs. I can't believe I've run 144 miles this year... especially since I only really started running again in April. That's 144 miles in a little over 4 months! I'm so proud I can hardly stand it. So... I'll just go to bed instead.
Do you have negative voices in your head during runs? What do you do to combat them?
The first few miles are always the toughest for me too. ---I have negative thoughts while running sometimes also. But ya just gotta push them aside and keep going! Good job knocking out 7 miles!
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa! Don't you wish the positive voices were as loud as the negative ones? :)
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