Couple this with some bad news about a business venture, lack of food throughout the day, bad choices from the weekend and an AWFUL decision for dinner...yeah, I was feeling pretty lousy. Needless to say, by the time I was able to run, I was done for the day. I had zero energy left. I was mentally & physically exhausted.
I should have skipped it and run on Tuesday instead. But I am stubborn, and I don't like being told I can't do something, even if it's by my own body. So I headed down to the basement with the last ounces of energy I could muster. I didn't bother aiming for speed, I knew I couldn't do it. I just wanted to finish my run, I didn't care how fast I was or how far I ram, I just wanted to finish. So I started at a 6 and seconds into it slowed down to a 5.8. And then periodically slowed down to a 5.3, which is where I stayed for most of the run.I was supposed to run for 28 minutes on Monday night. I was looking forward to this because I was hoping to break the 2.5 mile mark, which would be totally do-able under normal circumstances - I've been doing pretty well! I pushed for as long as I could, but I only made it through 20 minutes and 1.79 miles. I'm disappointed, and I feel like I'm making excuses, but I couldn't move any more. I didn't even do a full cool-down walk, I stopped the treadmill after 2:00 of walking and sat down for a few minutes. And I only partly stopped the treadmill myself; I was going over it in my head, trying to convince myself that I could walk for 5:00, but I couldn't even keep up with my walking pace and the safety key got pulled from the treadmill which caused it to stop and I just went with it and sat right down. Usually I do a ton of stretches and recently I have added on some core strengthening exercises as well. Not last night. There was no stretching, no exercises, just plopping on the couch in the basement for a few minutes and then trying to find the energy to climb the stairs back up into the house.
I go back and forth with, "I should have just pushed myself a little bit more." and "You did the right thing, you can't beat yourself up about it." Part of me feels like I gave in too easily to defeat. I should be stronger than that, I am stronger than that! The other part is telling me that it's not defeat if you're trying your hardest, it's accepting limitations and we all have them. It's just frustrating.
I am debating a "No Run Mondays" policy since Mondays are the only days I seem to struggle with.
Now the debate is, do I attempt to run today to make up for last night's failure, or do I take the day off and just run on Wednesday as planned?
Few thoughts: let this be a lesson that when things are going that wrong (esp when food, ie fuel, needs have not been properly tended to) the run will almost never go well (though sometimes we are pleasantly surprised!). When your body is telling you to change it to Tues, and you can switch your schedule to make that happen, do it. As for what to do about those lost 8 minutes - two things. Either kiss them good-bye and let them go, or switch the workout yesterday for one later in the week that might be shorter and do your 28 mins then. I would not run today to make it up, you will just wear yourself out. As a side note, Mondays are almost always on of my off days - it is just too much to get everything done on a Monday and then add running to it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your support & your advice! You are officially my running Yoda! I keep trying to have my weekends as my "off" days, not just so I don't have to try to squeeze it in, but in case something happens during the week & I can't run then, I have the weekend as a surefire backup. But I do seem to get the best runs in on the weekends - I'm better rested, better fueled, and I can run alone at a normal hour of the day. Since this is the 3rd time a Monday has been awful, I'm seriously contemplating just taking it out of the mix. That would mean either running on the weekend or having two "on" days in a row during the week to keep the weekend off. All stuff for me to think about.
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