Goals...baby steps...whatever you want to call them

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Raining again. Damn.

I had planned on a long bike ride to start the week – maybe three hours, but the weather was disagreeable. I could set up the trainer, but my brain started working the idea of running two days in a row.

You may be thinking ‘what’s the big deal?’ It’s just that I haven’t been able to run two days in a row without reinjuring my left calf for almost nine years. I’d get going after some time off from running, slowly building up the time until I’d hit around thirty minutes or try a second day. On probably twenty separate occasions, the muscle would start to ache again and I’d head back to square one. I’d seen a couple of doctors, but no answers. As I’ve indicated before, I’d quit running.

This time around though, something was different. I’ve run over an hour on three separate occasions and with no difficulty. But two days in a row? Nope – I’ve been chicken. Until today and the rain.

I went to the park thinking thirty minutes of running. Nice and slow and on the trails. They were muddy as hell and speed would not be an issue. I’d run almost an hour the day before and was still a little sore from that effort. Nervously, I started off down the trail.

My first encounter was with a fox. It’s only the third time I’ve seen one over the last twenty years or so of running and hiking. Elusive animals, though I’m seldom quiet in my approach. This one took a look and headed off the trail and into the woods. Cool start. I continued on, splashing through the puddles and feeling very uncomfortable. Often times I start my runs feeling extremely sluggish and have difficultly catching my breath. Frankly, I think it has something to do with the belly fat I’ve picked up, which restricts my normal running breathing. Only after 8-10 minutes do I feel like I can take the full breaths necessary to sustain the pace I know I can run and begin to feel comfortable. Today, it was more like fifteen minutes before I had this feeling.

And then it kicked in. Suddenly, running felt easy and I was moving along at 8-minute per mile pace. Nothing spectacular, but good for my current condition and the leg was feeling good. Now I had to be careful. It’s easy to overdo when you’re feeling good. My body was saying ‘run another hour’ but my brain had this well in hand. I turned around about sixteen minutes into the run and headed back to the car.

At some point, I knew nothing would go wrong and nothing did. I crossed the path of four whitetails along the way, which tends to reinforce running in the park. I was a muddy mess with soaked running shoes. The socks would never be clean again – not that that’s really important to me. It was only a 32-minute run, but I’d felt great and…two in a row!

I returned home and no one was very interested in my accomplishment. Well…who was I doing this for anyway? I think it’s important to have small achievements that excite me – and this was it. Didn’t matter that no one else was affected – it was keeping me focused. People supporting our efforts – either as training partners or just words of encouragement – are important, but it’s the intrinsic motivation that matters most. If it means just walking a little further or faster, losing a couple of pounds, going ten days in a row or whatever floats the boat - having little goals and achieving them keeps you going.

Tomorrow – more rain in the forecast, but I won’t be stupid and try to run again. I’ll save three in a row for a goal three weeks from now. It’s a little hill, but I’ll climb it…

Run duration: 32 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.

Calories burned during workout: 550.