50 is Fabulous Indeed

Friday: I awoke this morning feeling motivated by my online trainer and a burning desire to get out of the rut I was in, feeling so disappointed with my running. I took a bottle of Lucozade with me and spent more time warming up today, as it rained constantly, but this pleased me. I did lots of stretching and nearly 10mins to warm up. This was so I could get myself to 20mins of continuous running, as my program advised, and bearing in mind the targets set by the trainer, I know I needed to push myself harder. So I began the run at a very slow pace, which took a lot of self control. By really reducing my speed, I hit 15mins feeling better than I had ever done at that time, and so getting to 20mins wasn't as painful as expected. Because my body was coping better than I expected, I decided to keep going till 30mins, and again, at 40mins, I thought 50mins wasn't far off. I gulped down Lucozade every 10mins, which was lifesaver. But I reached 41 mins and my body started shutting down, I started experiencing sharp shooting pains in my right side (not a stich though). Slowing down eased them, as did pressing my right hand against the pain, massaging gently. But at around 46mins, I feared I would have to quit as the pain was getting too much to handle, and I had to bear in mind that I needed strength to walk back to the car. However, a female walker approached me and chatted to me for a few minutes, about the idea of us running together. This made me slow down further and took my mind off the pain, and by the time the walker had gone, I found the energy to last the final minute. My time was 50mins 39 secs for 3.97miles :o) I was so pleased with myself for hitting 50mins, I was on a high all day. I really needed this to boost my confidence, having struggled with 15min runs for so long, I couldn't see a point where I could go beyond that. Now, I feel so much more positive about my forthcoming races, and I know I need to stop distracting myself with speed times, and concentrate 100% on my endurance. At the end of the day, I can report my right calf feels a little achey but I generally feel fine, no more aches than usual, which is pleasantly surprising. The pains experienced during the last minutes of the run were about my body wanting to quit and I know I need to be careful about those signs. The female walker provided a helpful distraction; she seemed nice and keen for company, and I agreed to run with her but to be brutally honest, I was being polite - I have become so used to running on my own, changing my routes whenever I want, doing what I want and so on. Perhaps it is selfish of me to think like that but this is something I wanted to do for myself and by myself (inspired much by my late cousin). Who knows, maybe with time, I'll feel differently, it depends on how similar the other person's goals are to mine, and what stages we are at. It is funny, when I first started running, I was keen to find running buddies for support, but I have grown to enjoy the solitude, my quiet time alone and away from my busy life. And today, I just feel so proud to have run for 50mins, the races I am due to do don't feel as scary right now. Today's run left me feeling fantastic, and I very much needed that :o)