The Olympics end tonight, so I’m back to spending less time on my couch and back to regular updates. I have to admit the amount of lazy the Olympics have caused at my house has been pretty spectacular.
Saturday morning I had a really spectacular run with the Lululemon Run Club. Seven of us meet at the store for a Summer Streets run. It was the best 14 mile run I’ve had all summer. In the past week I’ve had a few talks with myself about marathon training and really need to chill out with these long runs. I think the best way to accomplish that is by scheduling more runs with friends.
I’m also taking some of the self-imposed pressure off of my running starting now. Running is suppose to be a fun, stress relieving activity, not a stress inducing activity. I’ve made myself so miserable on my long runs recently you’d think I didn’t like running at all. Running with friends on Sunday down Park Avenue and across the Brooklyn Bridge made me realize what was missing from my long runs.
In many ways this upcoming week’s long run is momentous as this same week last year, I ran my final long run before calling my New York City Marathon Training quits due to injury. That alone should be reason to enjoy running. I refuse to torture myself on my long runs any longer.
Workouts for the Week:
- Two core/strength sessions
- One Pilates class
- Three runs (tempo, speed, long run)
- One or two spin classes
- One day of complete rest
What do you do when you find your self imposed expectations start to hinder your running? What workouts are you committed to this week?
I put too much pressure on myself to run at times I should not do so. While running is a great stress relief, I need to remember that sometimes there may be a better/different option. I try to cross train a lot so I don’t get too bored with running too!
I will admit prior to getting injured I was getting burnt out on running. I think that is largely due to the ridiculous weather here. Now that it has cooled off and I am feeling better, running is something I look forward to again. Not sure how I would heave dealt with it all had I not gotten hurt.
I’ve already slacked off today though. I was going to get up early and go to Core Fusion but I really just wanted to sleep in. So I did. No big.
Monday – 2 mile run (to/from chiropractor)
Tuesday – 3 miles
Wednesday – 4 miles
Thursday – detox yoga
Friday – 6 miles
Saturday – Core Fusion/Flywheel
Sunday – rest or beach yoga
This happens to me on occasion – the burnout etc…
It’s weird how sometimes I’ll sit around and dread having to get in my run…why?….I like running. It’s also weird how I’ll judge how I feel on a run and feel bummed when I don’t “feel” like I expect to feel on other runs. It’s also weird how I come up with 10 million excuses as to why I won’t have time to fit in my run (my excuses range from…I have to give my dogs a good walk, I have to get stuff for dinner ready, etc…).
When this happens I usually do 5 things:
1. Tell myself that life is short – missing my run and failing to adhere to a schedule so I can’t obsessively upload miles into my excel sheet is small beans in the large scheme of things.
2. Tell myself to chill out with my expectations – I’m not freaking Shalene or Kara – it’s ok to be slow – just get out there and finish it – enjoy the privilege of being able to do it – enjoy a cool breeze on your skin (we’re talking autumn, people).
3. I make some delicious thing that I would never eat unless I got my miles in. The other day it was biscuits. All carb – all butter – all delicious. I won’t enjoy it unless I worked out hard. I will still eat it, but the new version will be me sobbing to myself while cramming biscuit in my mouth and watching Law & Order.
4. Wait for those feelings to go away – they happen sometimes.
5. Realize that since I’m a broke grad student and live in NYC, I can’t afford to exercise in any way besides running or doing fitness DVDs. Running=more exciting than fitness DVDs. Soulcycle=nope, Flywheel=nope, Bikram yoga=nope, Physique57=nope, CrossFit=nope.
Hooray for more runs with friends!!!
It’s definitely easy to get wrapped up in the competition of it all, rather than enjoying each work out. I am training for a sprint triathlon right now and I have noticed that the more workouts I do with friends, the more fun I have with it. We still push each other but it’s much more fun to talk to someone rather than just push through by myself!