Wk2/16 on the road to Paris (99 days!)

Last run of 2010. 11 k, a distance which is accidentally a great opener for 2011. 


Into the fog. I asked myself the question, whom do I meet out here on the run. A tempo run with a fast (for me) target pace on the soft sand sucked. Until I changed my attitude. I decided if this training program is going to suck the joy out of running, I won't do it. I spent some time afterwards writing my way through the experience and came up with the idea that this training program comes out of my strength, not weakness - that it is my strength that will bring me through it, and that if I choose to increase my running strength, I will have to take myself outside my comfort zone. And knowing that it will be uncomfortable makes it tolerable. 

I started with a feeling of inadequacy and moved through all my feelings to a place of power. And the pace chart doesn't know that I rode for 90 minutes yesterday - after being off the bike for months - and felt fatigued. Nor does the pace chart have any idea I wanted to take Odie to the beach and it was high tide, which meant I ran in that wet squishy sand most of the time. The value is in the effort, not the goal. I met the relentless critic on the beach out there in the fog, and I tamed her. 

And I made a list of items within my control - getting enough sleep, choosing a helpful attitude toward the workout, adapting to my body's signals as a goal, rather than achieving a particular pace, taking care of what I eat and drink, attending to how I plan my training sessions (to allow enough recovery time & to avoid sucking the energy out of the one that follows by going too hard or long).  I can take  care of myself, thereby  enjoying the process of increasing my fitness even more.  Bye bye 2010.  It's been a good long run.


Onwards to Janathon!