Ignoring the Thought...and the Heat...




Whew - just got off the treadmill. 2 miles at my fastest pace ever - an average 13:53/mile. I know, I know, it's not fast, but for me, it's decent.

I was talking to my mom the other day, telling her that for the first several minutes running, I'm thinking to myself "this is dumb, why am I doing this? Just stop." She told me that her trainer at the Y said that almost all runners have that issue, and just to ignore the the thoughts, unless you're in pain. So, I did my best to ignore the thoughts, even though they got quite loud!

And, I did the best to ignore the heat. It was *hot* in our guest bedroom, where our treadmill is. uggh! I'm dying for fall weather for a variety of reasons, primarily to be able to wear my new fall clothes! I'm also ready for fall weather, though, so I can run outside and not die from heat exhaustion!

But, at least I ran!

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Unknown said...

Congrats on just running! One runner wrote that to combat those thoughts in her head, she begins to ask parts of her body if each wants to quit: are legs dog-tired and burning? Are lungs giving out? Any side stitches? Are my ankles and feet okay? She said she thinks of each part of her body, and after doing the checklist and learning that each part if fairly okay, it's just her mind wanting to quit - then she continues running. About half-way through my 30-minute run, my negative thoughts usually stop, and I begin wondering if I can run for an hour or two.

Unknown said...

Put another poll up, and I'll be sure to vote.

Erika said...

I feel exactly that way when I get on my treadmill. EXACTLY. I don't do a full on run for the 35+ minutes I'm on - usually a run/walk combo with varying the incline and such - but when I'm warming up at a slower pace and then just start to get faster, I think, "Gosh, these 30 minutes are going to be PAINFULLY slow." And then I get into it and GO GO GO! And by the end I actually will go longer than I expected.

And no, you're not that slow. I'm doing about 2 1/2 miles in 37 minutes, so I'm slower than you. ;)

Anna said...

Erika - glad that I'm not the only one with those awful, "stop-right-now" voices in my head!! I'm impressed with your varying the incline - any time I get past 2.0 I get shin splints!