Saturday February 20, 2010

Weight: 123.2
Workout: Long run - 6 miles

Run was fantastic this morning. Fantastic! I ran the entire 6 miles at 6.0 and no breaks (with the exception of a short step-off to turn the fan on in the middle of the 5th song). The first 4-4.5 miles were extremely comfortable and after that I really had to mentally push myself to stay on and not take a short break.

I put together a playlist of perfect songs that was 60:22 - I wanted as close to an hour of songs as possible. I put them in a particular order and paid close attention to what the final two songs were so I'd know when I was close to the end. That ended up being a great motivator - I knew I only had 3 more songs, then 2 more songs, and finally 1 more song and less than 1/2 mile to go. Worked really well.

The order of the songs got slightly skewed from my original list so the first 3 songs were pretty difficult to run to (I find that What About Now by Daughtry is my absolute number 1 choice for first song and it ended up being song #4). After that, though, I got into a really good rhythm - song choice is so important for my running.

Toward the end I was figuring I had only 4 more songs that I hadn't heard... I was struggling a bit and felt like I was laboring. Knowing that I had only 4 songs left - the long songs though - kept me going through the song I was on. Then that song ended... I'm thinking, okay 4 more songs. And a different song came on than I had counted. UGH - crap, FIVE more songs, not 4. That was a bit of a mental challenge, too, but I worked through it.

My confidence is high - my mental game is good. I was scared that when I came back after my 4 month break that I would suck and have a difficult time getting at least the mental game back. I think the fact that I ran so many miles last spring and summer has really helped my mental confidence this time. I KNOW I CAN do it, I just have to train to the point of being able to do it again. I've done it already, I can do it again.

Its one thing to get my body back into physical shape - I didn't lose a ton of fitness/endurance/stamina, but I did lose some - but its an entirely different thing - for me - to get my mental fitness back in line. The mental game has always been my struggle with running - always. Now I know - I CAN push through it.

Tonight Cornbread and I are going out for a nice italian dinner and staying at a nearby bed and breakfast. It will prove to be a higher calorie day and I'm certain that my tapeworm will be back by dinner time so it will be an even higher calorie day. Oh well. I'm going to enjoy it - and the $50 bottle of wine that our friend gave us for the night:) And breakfast tomorrow. Ahhhh - working hard has its rewards sometimes... no guilt for a weekend like this!