A couple of things: (1) don't eat this before you run; (2) if you do eat that before you run, do it more than half an hour before you run. Yuck. Obviously I am still a fat guy and you can't take a fat guy to a place with ribs and expect him not to eat any. In my defense, I only got the appetizer size, not the dinner size AND I only ate half to the ribs. On the other hand, even eating half of the ribs was still half a pound of meat in my gut while I tried to haul my fat ass around the track.
So, even though I'd stuffed myself with pork and potatoes, I didn't want to fall off the running wagon on only my second day. I'm doing this for you guys you know? So I leashed up the dog and took her across the street.
It wasn't terrible at first. I really expected for it to suck. Badly. But at first it felt pretty normal. I'm really working on being a mid foot striker, taking shorter, quicker paces. I began by trying to keep my head up and my upper body lined up nicely over my hips and knees. Somewhere around the end of my first lap, I think all of that went out the window.
I was determined to run farther than I did yesterday. It seems to me (based purely on reading and observation of real runners) that your mind is the real obstacle in long-distance running. I know my mind is very good at coming up with very convincing rationalizations as to why I should not keep hauling my fat ass around the track. So I'm thinking that it's probably as important to start training my mind as it is to train my body.
So I kept going for another lap. It sucked, but I did it. Believe me, I know it sounds pathetic to talk about half a mile like it's some fantastic distance, but I did it. I doubled what I did yesterday. I'm like a sixth of the way to a 5K. And I did it at an 8 min/mile pace. That's pretty fast for a fatty don't you think?
So, I'm still a runner. And I'll get back out there and do it again tomorrow. See you then.
8 min/mile is freaking fast!
ReplyDeleteyou sound like you are killing it out there, man!
you are right about the mental part. here's a trick i use: sometimes when i have a longer run ahead of me and i can already feel my hesitation (like thinking of excuses not to go 24 hours in advance), i try to visualize the path of my run in my head (think Billy from Family Circus when he used to trapse about the neighborhood). Once I have run it in my head, i've already sort of done it, some weird psychology trick, and it's much easier to do the next day. that also worked for jumping out of a plane once. not sure if other people do that....maybe i should patent that.
Dude that sounds like a good psychological trick, I'll have to try that out (and if you want to patent it, I know some good patent lawyers)
DeleteSo, as you can see from my more recent posts, that 8 min/mile isn't holding up. I think that's why I wasn't able to go as far those first few times because I was pushing too hard too soon. I think between 9:30 and 10:30 is going to be a good pace that I can sustain for over a mile right now.
fyi, these posts are from Elise. :)
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