Mind Games

Today I did my first ever hour long run.  60 minutes.  Of running (with a little walking).  Of sweating.  Of praying to God that I wouldn't collapse.  Of hoping that it wouldn't start randomly raining (hello, this IS Michigan we're talking about).  And you know what?  I succeeded.

This was a big hurdle for me to cross.  The longest run I've ever done was 4 miles/48 minutes.  For me, the thought of running for 60 minutes seemed so daunting and like such a long time.  And then, on the flip side, I realized that it's only 12 minutes longer than what I've ran before.  12 minutes.  That's half of a sitcom on TV.  I realized that I needed to just get over the "mental" part of it and I would be able to do it no problem.

I slept in this morning, ate my breakfast of peanut butter and toast and coffee and just chilled on the couch for awhile.  I felt pretty good despite eating a whole box of Cheeze-It Snack Mix last night, oops! and knew I just needed to get it over with before it started raining or it got really hot.  So I put on my running clothes and geared up with an energy gel and my water bottle.  I made sure to use the water bottle I got at the Grand Haven Triathlon so that anyone who passed me would know that I am hardcore.  ;)

That's right- I did a triathlon and have a water bottle to prove it = I am hardcore.

My half marathon training plan said to do four repeats of 3 minutes walking, 12 minutes steady running.  This seemed very doable to me once I got my mind wrapped around the whole 60 minute thing.  My goal was #1- to follow the plan exactly (ie-no extra walk breaks) and #2- to average a 12:00 min/mile pace.  I had mapped out a 5 mile route the night before so I wouldn't be running in circles around my neighborhood (boring).

I started out and felt good.  The first running interval was great.  I had a good rhythm going and was happy to just sing along to my music.  During the second interval (it was a little hilly-er)(I have such great English skills), I had to play some mind games with myself to keep going.  I went through the alphabet in my head and made myself think of a person's name for each letter.  Twice.  I've found that playing mind games like this takes up time and makes me focus on something other than wanting to stop running.  The third interval was definitely the hardest.  At one point I looked at the time thinking I had only 2 minutes left and still had over 5 minutes left!  I pushed through and promised myself that if I did, and the fourth one was too hard, I would let myself stop running early.  Well, once I got to the fourth interval I was on a stretch of road that I run all the time and knew I was close to home.  I focused on a keeping nice, steady pace and just went for it.  I never stopped early and finished my run with a great sense of pride and accomplishment.

I achieved both of my goals in this run!  I followed the plan to a "T" and averaged a pace of 11:40 min/mile.  This run made me really excited for my 10K run coming up in 2 weeks.  My goal for the race is to not have to stop to walk and to finish in 70 minutes.  And of course, I am excited for my half marathon too...7 weeks to go!