Only 10 Miles

I've been waiting for today all week long. As I dragged my butt to the gym over and over, spent hours on the dreaded trainer and got up every morning around 5:45 to a very sore and tired body, I kept telling myself just make it to Sat. I rearranged my training once again so that instead of working out Sat and Sun morning I could have Sun free.

I had a 1.5 hr run scheduled. As I hit 3 miles, my body finally calmed down. The soreness seemed to subside. The tired legs from the 55 miles biked yesterday seemed to wake up and do their job. I felt good. Mentally I felt really good. That is a rarity for me. I am predispositioned towards depression and SAD. I don't take medication for them. I have tried a few times to take different prescribe pills, but the side affects are just too much for me. I get severe insomnia amongst other things. So I choose to battle it myself. One of the best things they say you can do is exercise. Of course they don't mean over 2 hrs a day. So sometimes the depression can rear it's ugly head more than I like, especially when the sun doesn't shine for a few days. But yesterday and today the sun is shining and I can almost feel spring in the air.

My ride yesterday was so much better than the week prior and it was 1/2 hour longer. I wasn't stressed out about the run this morning. Actually, I said, all I have is a 10 mile run. When your thinking goes from OMG I have to run 10 miles, to that's it only 10 miles, you know you're improving. My run was perfect. Well almost perfect. If only I could get the shin to cooperate I would be in great shape. I am now using kinesio tape and duck tape before each run. Looks goofy, but it allows me to run with little pain verses a lot of pain. 90 min run, 10 miles completed. Started out slow and increased the speed by 45 secs for most of the run. Heart rate never got to zone 3. A perfectly run, run. I realized today that I am getting better. My fitness level has gone up a notch. After 10 days straight of hard workouts, I am able to run 10 miles without an issue. That's improvement.

My favorite saying........The mindset - not the miles separates those who finish long distance events from those who only dream of finishing.

I hope spring stays in the air as it has a wonderful affect on me.

Today is Sat and I have earned a well deserved day off tomorrow. I mean a day off, no cleaning, no laundry, no workouts. My legs will be up as much as possible. I will ice and Advil in hopes that my shin enjoys the rest and recovers a bit to get me through next week. I peeked at the training for next week and it's not too bad. Maybe I'm just starting to get used to the load. Another good thing.