The Mental Side of It-A PR

I have to admit, I was teary when I saw the results. I just wasn't expecting to break my 4-mile PR of 7:16 minute mile for a while. And I wasn't even racing to try-I was racing because I like to and wanted to get steady speedwork in before next weekend's half-marathon.

The odds were against me. It was 17 degrees out with a windchill and I was wearing four layers-one of which was a puffy patagonia jacket. I didn't care about bulk-I just wanted to be warm because in the last race, I was frozen.

About ten minutes before the race, my ipod died. Argh-I hate running without my iPod. I need music to block out everyone else's labored breathing. I thought the cold weather had turned off the iPod but it turns out I didn't charge it.

I decided not to fret because there was nothing I could do but just focus on my breathing and just run.

Usually at a race start, I feel pumped and excited. I felt sort of numb and ambivalent-I just wanted to have a good run and knew I could do that. I didn't feel numb because of the weather-that happened much later.

The first mile took me 7:30, which is slow for me, especially at the start. But in the first mile, there is arduous but short hill to push over and plus a gaggle of people to get around. I decided to speed it up and then started to realize that my face was frozen solid and my hands were hurting. I then just focused on my breathing.

After mile two, I had run a seven minute mile, which was better, but I was then starting to feel off. I felt like i had no oomph and wasn't feeling it at all.
I tried to stay calm and focused on my breathing versus my misery and blahness.
I schlepped from mile two to three-I think it took me about a 7:15 pace but that mile has three hills to pass. And then the last mile, I definitely wasn't having it so I kept repeating something in my head over and over again.

The funny thing is, I have no idea what I was repeating over and over. I cannot recall it for the life of me.
Whatever it was, I ran a good last mile and finished with a time of 28:54. (7:14 minute mile) While this is not a huge PR, it is one and the beauty of it is, it was highly unexpected. And happened in somewhat adverse conditions.

The lesson here for me is that sometimes I need to not give in to my body signals of pain too soon and learn how to manage them.  I think I did a good job of that today.

Also, I think the speed work I have incorporated in my routine are working! (see prior post!)