Monday, May 14, 2012

Annnd, I'm back

I've taken a bit of a hiatus from blogging. A fair bit has happened since my last post - for example, I finished my second master's degree! woo! it had been hanging out there for a while, I just needed to complete the thesis, and I finally got the kick in the arse I needed and finished it up. So, originally, blogging to a back seat to being a responsible adult (boring.)

But then, I started to get a bit down on myself about my running. Admittedly, I'm still more or less in that funk. Initially I wasn't *too* upset after the half marathon on April 1 didn't go as well as planned. I knew I was under-trained for the hills, and I also didn't have a good mental game going in. Unfortunately, for the most part, my mental game hasn't gotten too much better. I did have a super good run on May 5th, where I killed 10.5 miles at what would be a half marathon PR pace. I also spectated BV running the New Jersey marathon and witnessed him taking FIFTY EIGHT minutes off of his marathon time in SEVEN months. Talk about inspiring. However, this past weekend's long run sucked - I was dehydrated, it was much warmer than it has been for previous long runs. And, despite the fact that I have another half (on a familiar course) before I even formally begin full marathon training, I'm already scared out of my wits about it, and I keep pestering myself with self-doubt.

So I've been avoiding blogging, because every time I see blogger pop up in my browser, I recall some sucky run i've had, or think I will have, and avoid it.

Then, literally like 2 minutes before I started this post, I recalled that I've had some rough patches with mental toughness before... and blogging has always helped, not hurt the issue. So, time to stop avoiding and start confronting. This weekend's long run will be a PDR. It WILL be. I will not wimp out and stop before the end. I've got a 5 mile loop that I love, and I will complete it three times. I WILL. I may employ a run-walk method for it. But no matter what I do, I won't stop after the second loop. I won't cut back early on the third loop. I'll embrace those rolling hills two miles into the loop with style.

I've been doing a bit of reading on mental toughness and focus, so I'm going to be employing some positive thinking tactics all week. I'm going to envision myself killing it on this long run from now till sunday. That should help get me in the right frame of mind for this long run. I will start my run early because it is going to be WARM. I will hydrate all weekend. I will do awesome... right?

Ugh, see what I mean?!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Come on, Cole! You got this next run! ;)