This has been a long week. And I mean long… Yesterday I drove past an area hospital, stared it down, and then thought “I wonder what it takes to actually be admitted to the hospital for exhaustion.” My next thought was “Wow, I need help.” That evening I called a close friend and told her about it, she made sure I was okay. And while I feel a lot of stress right now, I am for the most part, okay. I worked with someone today and debated sharing my thought process that I had gone through while driving past the hospital. It was confirmed that I am not alone, stress can bubble up and make you think some crazy things. The past few nights I have been up late with a lot of random tasks, last night in particular there was stuff I wanted to do but my body could not stay awake any long. So tonight I attempted to take better control.
After work I raced home, changed clothes and begged my boyfriend to go down to the lake and take a walk with me (I bribed him with stopping for a beer afterwards). While at my favorite bar (which deserves it own blog post soon, but I never seem to have my camera with me there), I finally tried the feisty feta dip that I read on the menu but had never ordered. After I got home I did another workout because I felt I really needed the endorphin boost. Finally with a clear head I sent a few work emails and then was able to spend some “me” time on my personal computer. And now I’m feeling good enough to get a blog out. But before I publish this post, I wanted to ask for some training advice….
Saturday morning I need to run 9 miles! Now last Tuesday I did accomplish 8 miles in 1 hour and 45 minutes. So my goal is to do 9 in 2 hours. During this crazy long week I was able to accomplish 2 different 5 mile runs. The first took an hour, and the second took 58 minutes. I was working hard for both those runs so I’m hoping that I will be able to sustain the pace for almost double the mileage. Does anyone have tips for how I can do this? I’ll happily accept any advice I can get!
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If I were in your shoes, I would consider negative splits. In other words, start out slow and gradually get faster as your confidence builds. Hopefully in the last couple of miles, you’re feeling like there is still plenty in the tank, then you can open it up a little and finish strong. The most difficult aspect of this approach is the start. You feel like you’re barely doing anything. Second suggestion, eat while running. About 1 hour in, I might have an energy bar or even a candy bar. Something with simple carbs is ideal and obviously high portability is key.
Good luck.
Thank you! I’m currently doing a run 4 songs, walk 1 song, run 5 songs, walk 1 song, type of schedule. So more endurance building than speed. But I’m definitely going to keep your advice top of mind!