Running the whole way

Hi there! It's Nic this time :)

So as I've said before I'm just starting to train again after an on-off relationship with my running shoes. You might ask: why the heck are you planning on running a marathon when you can't even run an entire 5K yet? Well, I like big goals and the pressure they put on you (1st year grad student ahem!). Also, I've done it before so I know I'm capable, it's just a matter of putting in the work to get back to where I was.

Cut to last week; I'd been back to training for a few weeks and was pretty comfortable in my walk run ways and I decided to turn off the alerts on my watch, you know, just to see how it felt not being a slave to the beep. Tuesday: scheduled 1.5 miles, ran the whole way! I bloody did it! I managed to get my breathing under control and I made it! Wednesday: scheduled 3 miles, I ran 3.6! The time sucked but that is what it is...something to deal with later! 

I think the point to this is that running isn't just physical, it's also mental. Once I had overcome my mental barriers about needing walking breaks, even on my puny 1.5 mile runs, that was it. I was able to run over twice that distance without a break. And now I know I can do it, there is no stopping me! When I'm tired and wanting a break I can say to myself: Hey, you did this a couple of days ago...you can certainly do it now!

Right now, all I'm concerned about is getting out there and getting the mileage done, speed will come later. For anyone interested, I am following Hal Higdon's Novice Supreme training program. This is a 30 week schedule with 4 days of running plus one day of cross training per week. I liked that it starts out easy so I could use it to build up to running continuously and progresses slowly to the higher mileages. I'm probably going to tweak it though, since I'm not sure about running 10 miles mid-week!

Anyhow, that's about all I've got for you right now. I'm heading to J'ville for Memorial weekend to hang out with NiCole and some other friends and also to do a 5K! We're planning on working on that other joint blog as promised, about our previous weekend together here in Gainesville. 

Cheers!
Nic