Bump in the Training Road

We interrupt reflections of world traveling to bring you a hard dose of reality. (Cue the breaking news sound byte)

While away, I wrote a few posts that I'm in the process of finalizing, but honestly, they're fluffy in relation to my current training, which makes sense. I ran while I was away, but it was a bit fluffy, and that's completely fine. I wanted to run while I was away, but I didn't want it to in any way impede my trip. So the posts I'm working on are meaningful to me and true to my experiences, but in terms of running, it would be dishonest of me to skip over today's run. I honestly just need to process it.

I had a long run of 7 miles planned for this morning, and I did it. I can't feel worse about a run than I would feel if I hadn't run at all, but it's not easy. This has happened before- I've struggled through a long run, just to go on and have a super successful long run the next week. I know it's not necessarily indicative of how the next 6 weeks are going to go, unless I let it be. I do think it is important for me to reflect nevertheless, as I don't want to continue to feel this way, both physically and mentally.

When I trained for my first half, I was super disciplined, finding what worked for me and sticking to it. Since then, I've found myself rediscovering things I already know and that were once routine for me, and that's okay. I need to continue to view this as a process, a journey, because when I look at it like that, today is a piece of the puzzle. It's hard to differentiate between what really impacts my performance, and what is just a head game, what is just me psyching myself out. 

A friend recently made me think about the differences between reasons and excuses. Today's run is behind me and I have no one but myself to "answer" to, so there are no excuses to be made. Instead,  I seek to identify reasons that may have caused today be challenging, so I can adjust accordingly for upcoming long runs. Here are my take aways:

-Choose flat over variety. I like weaving my way through town and mixing up my routes, but I need to forgo creative runs and minimize any additional challenges when mapping out longer runs. I don't usually blanket avoid hills/route challenges, and I won't, but I need to create long runs that are as gentle as possible. The course in September is flat and if my goal is to hit a mileage marker on my long runs, that needs to be my top priority.

-Cross train. This is something I was planning to start sprinkling in this weekend anyway, but I'm reminded that it's a super important part of my plan. Runs need to be my top priority, but some other form of working out needs to be up there too. I want to protect my long runs, in that I never want to go into them sore for a day of cross training, but doing so between shorter runs will definitely do me some good. It's a good reminder that I can, and should, push beyond what is comfortable and easy. 

-Revamp the play list. I typically create and wear out the same playlist, so I've become a huge fan of Songza as a way to mix it up. I think for shorter runs, it works, but for longer runs, I need songs that I know will energize me. My music could definitely use a makeover, but I like knowing what's coming, knowing that every song will push me.