Mind over Matter

It's scientifically proven that the gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body.

I believe it. My butt is decent sized.

However, I believe that a person's mind/self-discipline/will-power whatever the hell you want to call it is also a muscle, and probably the most important to running. Use it, it gets stronger. More powerful. Let it atrophy? You're litterally not going to get anywhere.

This is day #2 of round #2 training for half marathon #2 this year. (That's a lot of damn "2"s...) I want to beat my 1:46:07 current PR so I'm actually taking my training plan seriously this time around. This is a huge deal since I don't like being told what to do. Not in person. Not on the phone. Not via exercise video. (Sometimes, I suck it up to get my not so namaste p90x yoga on.) Especially not via impersonal written out training plan on the computer created by someone I've never met, though, assume they are smarter than me. It's a good plan. I have every intention of mostly following it. The major problem I have with it is the abundance of "easy runs". (This is how the "not following the plan" Pandora's Box gets opened...) Three, FOUR if you count the LSD every Sunday, of FIVE running days are designated "easy". What the fuck. I want to run fast yo. Not junk mileage. That many easy runs sound like junk. So, I got on doing things my way "tweaking" things ASAP. I took the Tuesday easy run and turned it into a speedwork wild card day. One of the things I'm good at is maintaining a consistant difficult pace. Exhibit A: the half in May where I basically clung to an 8:00 min/mi the entire race. I'm thankful this somes naturally to me. It's a great skill and comes in handy. However, one of the blogs I read has been talking about practicing progression running. It's the concept of starting out easy and running each mile faster so you don't gas out. It's crazy to my I only want to run fast brain, but your overall time actually ends up faster. And because you have more in the tank later in the run, you can push even harder than if you were just maintaining a semi-challenging pace. I'm basically the only person in the world who doesn't own a Garmin, so I rarely watch my mile splits. I thought that it'd be a good idea to start incorporating progression runs into my training in order to become more intune with my pacing. And why not sooner than later? :) I really didn't know what pace to start at, but since I tend to need more warm up time before running fast in the early morning, I decided to just let my body settle into the first mile and go from there. Eh, logical?


I don't know what was wrong with me this morning. Ok. Maybe I do. It might have been heading to bed after 11:00. It might have been the fight. It might have been the 1/2 bottle of Pinot Noir I drank. Red wine make me sleepy when I drink it at night, and blurry when I wake up in the morning. Doesn't matter if it's one glass or a box. Eww. Boxed red wine. #baddrinkingideas

I digress.

Even though the morning was beautiful, weather chill, and it was still dark, I didn't feel like myself. I warmed up and went through the motions of running the first mile. It was a 9:00 flat. Ick. I knew I was supposed to start slow, but it really annoyed me. I don't run 9:00 miles. Not even when I'm running 15. Ahh, Pride, why you gotta try an derail me? The second mile was 8:45. 15 seconds faster than the first. I should have high-five myself. After all, it's not like I had any clue what I was doing. By the 3rd, I wanted to quit. It was another 5 seconds faster. I wasn't really working hard. I might have been a tad bored. I definitely didn't feel like working harder. which is the kinda the whole point of a progression run. The thought crossed my mind that I could just settle in and do the last 3 "easy" like the plan called for. I think this is hilarious because I was already pissed at how "slow" I was running. Why on earth would I want to "settle in" and let myself possibly run "slower"? Because my brain can be stupid and lazy. Today, mostly lazy. I didn't want to think. I didn't want to have to do math on my fingers mental math. (Yes, I did use my fingers. No, I don't care. You do what works. Fingers work.) I didn't want to have to exert myself. Because, you know what? Deep down, I knew I was not running to my potential. I am getting fast, and the problem with running fast is you know you're capable of it. And you kinda maybe dread the "work" even though you know you can do it. 

I did it. All 6 miles. And I did them properly - progressively faster. I'm honestly really proud of myself. I'm proud of my self-discipline. I'm proud that I can allow myself to think things like, "I want to quit", and then turn around and work harder. On occaision, I have quit/cut a run short, but this is usually because my thighs are rubbing of humidity. NOT because I wimp out. My brother's girlfriend says we're badass bitches. Represent.

6 miles: (50:00)

9:00
8:45
8:40
8:20
7:43
7:32

Want to know the secret to the 2 sub-8 min/miles? Listening to BrokeNCYDE's "Booty Call" and A$AP's (ft. Drake, 2Chainz, Kendrick Lamar) "Fuckin Problem" on repeat ad nauseum. That's right. Those gems got me through. My new birthday shirt says: "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It." That shit's for real. I don't fuck around. :-P