I'm No Superman

Didn’t get to blog yesterday, so I’ll recap two workouts in one entry today.

Almost didn’t get to run yesterday. Plan was to get to the track, but freezing temps and rain led to that idea getting scratched. Plan B was to run the hamster wheel at lunch, but work stuff attenuated the time I allotted for this, and again later that afternoon during time I had scheduled as Plan C. So that left Plan D, which was to get my workout in I was done teaching class at 8. By this time it was all or nothing.

Got on the hamster wheel at 8:30, the place closed at 10. At this time of the day, looking at a running machine was like looking at a whipping post. Times like these when you realize those damn things keep going and going, and you don’t. My belly was full of carrot cake and trail mix, snacks passed around during my class and ersatz dinner, and an Anson and the Rocket album I had yet to listen to was on my iPod. To maximize the time I had and to make it a hard workout I maxed the treadmill as fast as I could and tried to get a groove.

That groove never came. By four miles I was checking the distance run about every tenth of a mile. The songs were okay to run to – straight ahead Texas blues – but the songs were short and made the run seem longer. Waves of anxiety came to hit me, and then overwhelming urges to just stop. The cognitive side of me said this was good mental practice for marathon running, and that unique feature of the treadmill – the belt just keeps rolling – kept me in hang on mode for awhile. An agonizing while, however, and I got the feeling this couldn’t last.

At mile 5.5 (5 @ 6 minute pace) my stomach started getting sick. I slowed the pace down to 8 and a half mile into this recovery had to continue the run into the bathroom. To show how crazy I was thinking, all that was in my head was failure, that I had stopped before my workout was done. But I also got a chance to regroup. Take it easy. Felt okay enough to get back on the horse. Turned off Anson and put on the BB King - Eric Clapton album: a familiar old friend. Cranked the treadmill back up to 10 and kept going, not feeling great but feeling better. A level of suffering I felt more comfortable with. I ran this for 4.5 miles (4 @ 6 minute pace) until 9:55, when it was time to clear out the gym. Total was 10.5, a little short of the 12 I had wanted to do but it left me with a feeling of redemption.

My reward was a bike ride home through freezing rain and then right into bed. At 6 this morning I was up again to run with Erin and Deirdre. If yesterday’s run sounds crazy and stupid, this mornings run was the opposite (however that is defined). An easy run with good company on a crisp sunny morning as the sun rose. I felt surprisingly strong for the first seven miles, and then just eased off for the last 2.5 on an Acme loop. Time was a respectable 74:40. Typical Friday, it was all I could do to drag myself out to run, but feel energized now that its behind me.

Back to craziness tomorrow as I plan to go 20, but an easy 20.