NOTE: Carrie ran a race tonight! Yeeeeeee-haw.DISTANCE: 3.30 miles (2.7 r, .6 w)
MOOD: from Kinda Freaked Out to pissed off to feeling good
A friend sent me some words of encouragement yesterday. He had a pal who used to coach highschool track. Apparently, she (the coach) had a special technique to motivate the kids. Standing on the edge of the track she'd yell, "Run, Mother-F'er, RUN!!!!"
I will think of that now whenever I feel like quitting. And if I can stop laughing long enough, I'll continue running. ;)
I started out today with some interval training. I did 5 minutes of warm up, jogging at 4.5 mph, and then did 20 second intervals at 5.5, 6.5 & 7.5 mph. I recovered for 60 seconds at 4.8mph before repeating the sequence.
The run felt physically more difficult today. I was challenging myself with the faster intervals, but there's more. Last night, I drank about 1/4 of a Miller Lite. I don't usually drink, and when I do, even just a tiny bit, the next morning, I'm a bloated & groggy mess. I woke up this morning feeling like a Nyquil addict - so heavy with a mind so thoroughly foggy that I didn't even know where I was for a good thirty seconds after opening my eyes. No more drinking the night before a run. I don't need the calories, and I don't need the headache.
I need to learn to relax my upper body when I run. I'm holding a lot of physical tension in my neck, upper back & shoulders. I had another bout with anxiety today on the treadmill. I start to feel tension in my upper back (between the scapulae) and, as I mentioned in a previous post, it feels like a terrible anxiety attack. I started walking when I didn't physically need the break due to the freak-out factor. I've got some work to do there.
HOWEVER, I still felt fantastic at the end of the run. And I feel lucky to have this opportunity.
Tomorrow (Friday) I'll go to Water Country Water Park in Portsmouth, NH with two of my best pals. I'll take the day off from running to "let my muscles heal and replenish their glycogen stores." (says 7 time Boston Marathoner, Josh Cheron). I will also be getting a nice sun-burn while doing my best not to use profanity on my first encounter with the vertical slides. It's all an important part of the training, you see.
