Run Faster!!

I don't really blog about my runs often any more but tonight's was a bit of a breakthrough for me since my injury over 6 months ago. I went to Sweatshop for their usual Friday evening run only to find out they cancelled without telling anyone (boo). Thankfully there was one of the guys that I used to run with waiting outside for a few fellas that he'd arranged to run with. It turns out I knew them all from when they used to run at SRC but they meet separately now for reasons that I'm not really aware of and didn't think I should ask about. Anyway, they invited me along and I happily accepted.

'Just an easy 10k' was the description of the run as we left....

'easy' may be a word they need to define a little bit more clearly in future! We had Simon (aka Speedy Gonzales) running with us. I remember seeing him at the end of the Bridlington half marathon and him being disappointed with a sub 1.30 (eek!). Anyway, he set the pace pretty fast and as a result I was pushed more than I've been pushing myself recently. To be honest, I'm really pleased they did!

Tonight reminded me of when I first started and how much I improved by running with people of similar and better ability. Having people that can push you a little bit harder than the usual comfortable pace really improves your performance and quick! The lesson I remembered today... RUNNING WITH FASTER RUNNERS MAKES YOU FASTER!!

All in all it was a brilliant run though easy is the last thing I'd describe it as... I ran a personal best 10km time tonight - if only it'd been a race!
You are reading the blog of a very happy runner. If I ache tomorrow it'll be well earned.

PMA TO THE RESCUE!

So after realising where I was going wrong the other day, I attempted a bit of a mental reset and so far it's worked. Yesterday's run was an example of this and I realised a few really important things...

• Marathon training is not supposed to be easy
• I'm not the only one that has ever felt overwhelmed by marathon training... it's supposed to push you
• I need to stop giving myself such a hard time, and just do my best
• IF IT WAS EASY... EVERYONE WOULD DO IT

Yesterday I ran without my Garmin or ipod (the ipod wasn't intentional but it was dead as a dodo) and it did me the world of good. I didn't need GPS as I knew exactly where I was going to run and run it so often I know how far it is. I hadn't realised how much I look at my watch for distance and pace and I really enjoyed this run without that subconscious pressure. It was mild outside but not too hot, I could run comfortably in a singlet and shorts and the only thing I could've done with was a drink half way around!
Here comes the bit that made the difference though... Instead of analysing how far I had left to run (and torturing myself with it) I thought about how I should go about raising some money for the YAMND. Once I'd tackled that (which took about 9km by the time I'd thought about it then repeated everything enough times to commit it to memory), I occupied the rest of my run (7km) with thoughts about positive things. These things are varied in their subject matter but I would only think about something if I was thinking about it in a positive way. I set myself some rules where 'can't' and 'won't' and similar negative words were banned from my thoughts. If they crept in I'd have to find a way of expressing what I was thinking in a positive way (all the time this is keeping my mind busy and I'm not thinking about how far I've run and how far I have left to go!!)

If I ran out of things to think about I would repeat positive phrases, almost like a song, through my mind again and again. Running up hills involved 'I can do this' 'I am strong' and 'hills are awesome!'. (Rubbish song, I know, but it got me up them and I didn't stop at any point though the full 16km!). I noticed that in order for this to work I had to approach it as 'I can do this' rather than 'you can do this' as that would make me feel like I was telling someone else.
Somehow these things got me through the full distance comfortably with no desire to quit and no physical pain. Although this all involves admitting that I talk to myself (though I don't think it was out loud except maybe when I was going uphill), it does prove that my problems recently have been in my head and not with my physical ability!

'Our greatest battles are 

with our own minds'

                               Jameson Frank