Tips for training around the Track.

I went to the gym after dropping Austin and his friends off at basketball practice.

After yesterdays long brutal run I felt like I got into a fight with Mother Nature and SHE WON.
I was in the hurt locker. Everything was so sore.
I had a blank slate for a plan as I pulled into the packed gym.

Here is what I knew:

1. I was sore.
2. I didn't want to run on the Dreadmill.
3. I wanted to run at least 5 miles.
4. I wanted to stretch, do abs and hit the Cold Plunge.

TIPS NUMBER 1:
Leave the watch at home. There are many runs that your watch will be glued to your wrist. There are few where you remove it and this is usually because the batteries are dead! We often so get caught up in the madness of time, pace and distance that we forget to just LOVE the RUN.

TIP NUMBER 2:
Let the Pace plan your RUN. Today that is what I did. I knew I was sore. I ran a long run yesterday where the distance didn't beat me up as bad at the elements. Because I ran over 13 miles yesterday I knew that I needed to be gentle to my body. I needed to feel my run. Let my run come to me rather than me pushing towards my run. By doing this I have allowed my body to come into its own. I took it slow and finished strong.

TIPS NUMBER 3:
Try something new: Normally when I run around the track I bring my watch to program my mile splits. This is how I keep track. Today I had no watch. My counting is terrible. I forget to count as I calculate pace or I start daydreaming and lose track. As I took my first mile slow I began to feel a plan unfolding. 7 miles easy. I decided to count how many times I went around the track instead of counting every 4 times and marking my miles from there.
FUN TIMES with TIP Number 3!

You are probably wondering how I could count to 28 without losing track. I did WORD ASSOCIATION!
4: "Made the first MILE!
8: "Only 20 more times around!"
10: "Double Digits"
12: "12 months in a year, we run all year long!" 
13: "Bad number, Bad MOJO" 
14: "Half way there." 
17: "I have been married 17 years."
21: "My Sweet Ariel"
24: "1 Mile left to GO!!"
28: "DONE..heavy breathing ..DONE!"

The plan worked out.
"RUNDOWN"
Distance:7 miles
Pace: 8:42
Time: 1:01
ABS, rolled, stretched and COLD PLUNGE, BRR!

Just Because I ran a long run yesterday was not my exit from running today. Just because my body was tender and raw was not even an excuse for skipping my run. My training has me run Sunday and Monday. NO MATTER what. My training is not at a place I can dodge runs.

I found this and wanted to share it:
A Guy who has run 20 Boston Marathons was asked "Don't you feel like skipping a day when its raining?"
The old warrior replied, "If you start skipping runs because the weather is too lousy, pretty soon you start missing runs because the weather is too nice!"
~Florence Griffeth Joyner and Jon Hanc  Running for Dummies

Anita