Through a series of procrastinations, I have thrown my scheduled training days off. This of course is no one's fault but my own. I completely skipped yesterday's four miler, and can not even remember how it was that I went about justifying it to myself at the time. I do remember that it was elaborate and, at the time, made absolute sense. It had something to do with getting up at an ungodly hour and getting the run in. In all fairness to myself, I was feeling exhausted and after coming home from work, went straight to bed and stayed there.
So with the foggy remnants of my justification still lingering in my head, I pulled myself out of bed at that unholy hour this morning and made my way to work, changed in the office, and headed up to the gym. I've grown less fond of treadmills than I once used to be. However, I believe that they do have their place. I once told a friend that the treadmill was a good tool for forcing yourself to maintain pace. "Keep up or fall off," I had quipped. I climbed aboard the treadmill and fired it up. No warm ups. No preamble. No sissy stretching. Just the way I like things: climb in and hang on.
From the start I noticed two things missing: the pain in my knee and the pain in my abs. Bonus. So hoping that it wasn't simply a fluke, I gradually increased the pace. The first few minutes were what I was expecting: calves and feet started their usual cramping/tightening act. That normally hangs on until around mile two, then disappears. Today was no different. You would think that my body would have learned by now and would just give up on that gag. I haven't fallen for it yet. Around two and a half miles I decided to crank up the speed a little to get a better rhythm going and to push myself. Amazingly enough nothing flew apart and I actually felt stronger. So I cranked it up some more. And some more. And once again, just for good measure. At this point I am flying. How fast? No idea. I always keep the digital display of the treadmill covered to prevent distraction from all the data: pace, time, distance, speed, etc. Plus I am seemingly always plagued by the nagging question of why it seems to take twice as long to run around the little virtual 1/4 mile track on the display than it does on an actual one. I have as of yet to review my Garmin data (calibrated to my foot pod - yes, I'm a techno geek too), because I anticipate a harsh slap of reality and I'd rather hang on to the "damn I am fast" feeling for a while longer.
The point is, that the faster I ran the stronger I felt. That is odd enough, but I'll take it. Especially considering Sunday's horrible run, I really needed today's boost. So maybe Sunday I was just fighting exhaustion. Maybe it really was the heat. Or perhaps even the time of day - I always seem to do better with early morning runs. Regardless, the run was redeeming. Now I just need to figure out how to get back on schedule, keep today's positive momentum going, and hope that the next several days are as equally redemptive.
Keep up or fall off.
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