February almost over

I started this month after only running 23 miles last month believing I should at least add a few miles this month to feel better about how badly January went! As of today (with only one day left of the month) I have 6.48 miles from doubling the milage from last month. I don’t know if I should be ashamed that I haven’t doubled my miles or if I should be proud of the miles I’ve run this month. So far, I have run almost 40 miles. This just means I have to up the ante next month! We shouldn’t forget that this month is 3 days shorter than January.

Coach Mark reminded me that it’s not the short term goals that matter in running, it’s the long term results! We need to focus on what makes us happy and keeps us going. Today I told myself I’d run at least 3 miles and I ended up doing a .78 mile warm up and then doing 5 miles in 1 hour 10 minutes. I know that’s super SLOW but I am proud of myself for finishing a long-er run of five miles. I had argued with myself in my head about whether I should keep running or go home and I had decided to go home because my water bottle was empty.

It was, in a way a good choice because I ended up feeling really tense around the same area I’ve had trouble with my right leg. At work later tonight I limped and it was not a fun event. Spending 3 hours on my feet limping around the restaurant is not my idea of an ideal recovery but I made it through. I think it might have to do with my new running shoes! Yes, I got new running shoes along with my watch so I’m all set for long runs but need to break in my new shoes.

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Cross Training Heaven

On the 23rd I decided that working out was necessary but I couldn’t figure out why in the world I would want to run on the treadmill. I hate that thing. Ever since I started running outside regularly, I have come to realize how much I loathe running on the treadmill. There is only ONE reason why I don’t like it. That is, because it forces my legs to move. It is not a good feeling when your body fights against the movement.

The elliptical machine has always been my least favorite machine at the gym but for some reason that’s the first machine I jumped on. I cranked out three miles in just over 30 minutes and then jumped on the bike and rode 4 and a half miles. This was not running but I felt good with my work out. Working out is never something I regret doing, not working out is. Often I will go to the gym and jump on the treadmill and then only do a few minutes because I’m bored or I feel like I’m not accomplishing anything. When that happens I jump off and go home.

Over the past month I have slowly declined in my running and this is for no obvious reason. I believe that a lot of the stress I’ve been dealing with over the past two weeks have really screwed up my ability to focus on exercising and getting on top of things. I feel bad that Coach Mark has put his time and effort into me and I’m not panning out to the best I can. Today is a new day. I am going to put my mind into follow last week’s schedule and get my butt moving again. Those 7 miles last sunday never happend and there is no reason why! Shame on me. Instead of sitting around and being bummed out with my running or lack thereof; I have decided I’m just going to see how much I can get done this week and  work my way back up!