Karen writes: Starting to enjoy training again
Sometimes, when you are feeling stressed, or time pressured, or unfit, training is a bit of a chore. More than a bit actually, it can turn into a real drag, if you let it. Fortunately if you keep on going the 'drag' phase usually passes, cures itself. For example, serious training session gets rid of the stress, it's purely a head thing to figure out how to deal with feeling hurried because of your busy life, and of course you get fitter and your comfort level rises.
The children are on school holidays, for me that's a brief respite to focus on training, and gathering energy, physical and mental, for when they come back. As often happens, the minute I get time to train to my hearts content I get a cold (last year I got injured, fortunately that isn't the case this time). Decision...train, or rest. Rest or train. I'm training of course.
Training and starting to relax, it means I start seeing things around me again. Like the run on Sunday, I enjoyed a bit of a game running along the coast road paying attention to what people were doing in their cars as they drove towards me. There were lots of eaters and drinkers, talkers, a few tight steering wheel grippers, the occasional smoker, a scowling example of the 'I hate runners' variety, but the most amusing (alarming?) of all was the man driving slowly along in the middle of the narrow road in his van wielding his electric razor.
Tonight I ran down to Te Puru park for spin class, it's a bitterly cold night and for a change there were very few people, or animals, around. I did see a hardy few practicing ball skills down at the park who were so rugged up, complete with balaclavas and overcoats, that I wondered how they could move to catch the ball. I enjoyed watching their weird looking slow dance under the big outdoor lights with the mist coming in off the sea.
Spin was good, is it getting easier I wonder? Perhaps it is, or am I just not trying as hard as when I first started? I see that my run there was the same pace as last week, but the run back on legs which were meant to be tired was a bit quicker, this could be a good sign.
The next marathon is now 10 weeks away. I have lots of 'I wonder' thoughts about this one, another country, another culture, another language, another climate, very exciting. If I didn't need every one of those 10 weeks to get fit enough to do the job I would be wishing my time away.
The children are on school holidays, for me that's a brief respite to focus on training, and gathering energy, physical and mental, for when they come back. As often happens, the minute I get time to train to my hearts content I get a cold (last year I got injured, fortunately that isn't the case this time). Decision...train, or rest. Rest or train. I'm training of course.
Training and starting to relax, it means I start seeing things around me again. Like the run on Sunday, I enjoyed a bit of a game running along the coast road paying attention to what people were doing in their cars as they drove towards me. There were lots of eaters and drinkers, talkers, a few tight steering wheel grippers, the occasional smoker, a scowling example of the 'I hate runners' variety, but the most amusing (alarming?) of all was the man driving slowly along in the middle of the narrow road in his van wielding his electric razor.
Tonight I ran down to Te Puru park for spin class, it's a bitterly cold night and for a change there were very few people, or animals, around. I did see a hardy few practicing ball skills down at the park who were so rugged up, complete with balaclavas and overcoats, that I wondered how they could move to catch the ball. I enjoyed watching their weird looking slow dance under the big outdoor lights with the mist coming in off the sea.
Spin was good, is it getting easier I wonder? Perhaps it is, or am I just not trying as hard as when I first started? I see that my run there was the same pace as last week, but the run back on legs which were meant to be tired was a bit quicker, this could be a good sign.
The next marathon is now 10 weeks away. I have lots of 'I wonder' thoughts about this one, another country, another culture, another language, another climate, very exciting. If I didn't need every one of those 10 weeks to get fit enough to do the job I would be wishing my time away.
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