zen and mellow by abby

i try not to stress about the long runs. i do get a little worked up and nervous, of course, but i really try to be all zen and mellow with it .... if it turns out to be a horrible run, it's not the end of the world. you can always walk. you can always park your butt on the side of the road and call your friends to come get you. i usually get more worked up about the weather or worry more about catching the nasty cold that's going around than the actual run itself. i just try to give it my best shot week after week. the way i see it is: if i respect the run, then it will respect me. that's supercheesy, i know, but hey, it seems to work.


excellent work on your 10-miler, grimes!!!! you really do only need to run 10 before your half .... the momentum and excitement of the race will carry you the rest of the way. it's the same reason you only run 20 (in fact, it's recommended that you do not run more than 20) before the marathon ....

i let myself go backwards today ..... after a hard 5 on the treadmill (in just over 45 minutes) on thursday, and a full day of blobdom on friday, i felt okay letting myself step down to 8 in preparation for stepping up to 10 next week. i am still 5 weeks out from my half marathon, so i'm being careful and trying to not be overprepared for that, if there is such a thing. anyway, today i set out to just run 8 miles at a truly comfortable pace. no pushing myself. just 60% of my max heart rate, the way they say you're supposed to do long distances. 'course i don't have a heart rate monitor, so i have no idea if i was at 60 % or not, but i felt excellent. normally i set a 10-minute/mile goal for myself ... but today i just ran whatever pace i felt comfortable at, with no expectations. turns out that pace, at the 8-mile distance, anyway, is just over 10-minute miles. hmmm. i finished in 1:21:15. why does 10-minute pace feel like such a challenge sometimes, and feel so easy other times??? 'tis a mystery.