I Did It!

Friday, February 03, 2012 · Mike Davis

I did it!

Today was to be my fourth consecutive days of running 7 miles. The way my legs felt during the night and early morning, I knew I would have to take an 800 mg Motrin if my body was to be ready. I checked in with my partner first thing this morning and he decided to give his legs some rest after our intense workout yesterday. Do you think it was the pushups that I made him do? The thing is, he’s not training for a marathon so he can be smart and careful. Me on the other hand, I not only need to build the strength physically, but I have to work on the muscle between my ears. For me that’s pushing myself to get stronger than I have ever been as a runner. Some may think I’m a strong crazy runner, but in reality I have struggled once I get outside of 13.1. I have lots of work to do.

At 1400 (2:00 people time), I enjoyed my plane Greek yogurt and finished off a bottle of water. At 1520 (3:20), I changed into my running gear, did some walking lunges and set out for 7 miles. My goal was to go easy and rest my body, staying on the plus side of 9 minute miles. It’s so important that easy runs are actually easy as our bodies need the rest from the stress. No necessarily rest meaning no running, but running without stressing the legs too much. I really struggle with that as I tend not to be patient and rather push myself. Pushing really, really does not help you become a better runner and eventually you might get slower or worse, hurt! So I need to get smarter and patient.

Mile one was a tad faster than planned, but at 9:12, I was still on the right side of 9. Things felt okay, but I really focused on going easy and foot strike. Mile two was again a little fast at 9:09 but in range of my goal. The weather was not nearly as nice as yesterday, but wasn’t all that bad. Mile three was pretty much the same as mile two, so I lectured myself to slow down even more. From there on out my pace was between 9:12 and 9:20, so I stayed in the range I desired, but still a bit too fast. A few seconds per mile does make a difference on our legs, so my goal next time will be even slower. My overall pace was 9:12 per mile, and I would have liked it to have been 9:20 per mile. Still not so bad and I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I might.

I never did take the Motrin as my legs felt pretty well during the day and while I believe Motrin has value when it comes to inflammation; our bodies heal better in general if we let them heal themselves. What does that mean? Our bodies are designed to repair themselves if allowed, but we tend to use drugs instead of allowing them to heal naturally. Do not get me wrong, there’s a time when some type of drug makes sense, such as inflammation. For me to be successful in this training I have to allow for my body to take care of itself as much as possible. No doubt I will take some Motrin at some point!

Tomorrow is a rest day from running, but I will get up early and do some strength training. No legs, just core and arms.

Not sure what my plan for the weekend is as I have to work, but I will be doing some type of tempo run on Saturday I believe.

Be well!

mike