First week of the next training cycling is in the books

The first few days of anything new is always rough. The task of acclimating to the change stresses both the body and the mind That's exactly how my training cycle started this past week. Monday was a rather easy day with 7 miles but then, Tuesday saw me logging some extra miles early to get 17 during Jamaar's McAlpine run.

This was followed by a rather sluggish Wed, Thurs, and Friday. Between the heat and the extra weight strapped on to my body during my two week downtime, I was pretty certain running the Bear last year felt easier.

Saturday morning, Mike and I ran through Huntersville. The entire run I felt like was just dragging. I was soaked. Water was flying from my shorts with each stride. Mike started before me so he had in a little over 14 while I gratefully accepted 10.3 miles. But when I looked at my watch, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had completed my portion of the run in just over 75 minutes. No wonder, my legs were feeling terrible. My legs were moving faster than they wanted.

Come Sunday, I hit the trails at Beatty. Mentally, I was bouncing back and forth between feeling good and feeling bad. But when I finished, I still felt like I had something in the tank and could have potentially ran another 6.5 mile lap.

That's the feeling, I want to have when I finish running. Completing a run and the first thing that I do is put my hands on my knees isn't a good sign for the future. Knowing that I have more in the tank leaves me with the optimism that I need for the future.

 

Sharing one thought at time,

 

The Cool Down Runner