Practice What You Preach (A Brief Confession)

I have to say that sometimes it’s a lot easier to talk about doing something than it is to actually do it. So remember the while “Mindset” thing from a few days ago? Yeah…kind of blew it today.

So this week I’m scaling things back on the intensity so my legs are a little fresher on Saturday. Still trying to keep the mileage at 90, but my quality seasons are dialed down. Anyway tonight was a 15 min run at threshold (5:45 pace). No biggie, right?

All day, I was thinking it would be totally cruiser, and that it would feel easy, just a little something to keep the legs from going stale. Danger, Will Robinson…remember my position on “feeling?” At any rate, I think you can see what’s coming…

Yep, workout felt hard, legs felt heavy, yadda yadda. And then my old friend, Self-Doubt, made an appearance: This is hard? Wait until you try to run 5:20s this weekend! Turd. I hate that guy. Anyway, I hit my splits, but my Garmin was acting up, which always pisses me off…it was a long 15 minutes. I certainly had a hard time staying focused and positive.

As I cooled down, I realized I walked myself right into my own ambush on this one. The whole day before the workout, completely taking the thing for granted, assuming I would feel a certain way. Pretty much all the crap I just warned against. So, a fun way to learn to take my own advice, huh?

At any rate, I’d rather learn these lessons in training as opposed to in the middle of a race. Tonight served as a stern warning for Saturday: these paces are hard, fast, and uncomfortable, so bring a straw, son (so you can suck it up).