Moving forward

Yesterday I completed the second day of Week 3 in the rain.  It was a blast!  I absolutely adore running in the rain, a nice rain with no thunder and lightening.  I even convinced a friend of mine to bring her dog out to the woods and walk the trails while I was out on my run, we could meet up when I was finished.  They both had a good time too.

Afterward I felt so strong, both inside and out, I was sure I could skip ahead again to Week 4 on Monday.  I only do this with the complete understanding that at any time if I feel I have misjudged, moved forward too fast and need to take a step back I won't hesitate to do so. There is no shame in repeating weeks and I have done so in the past until I knew I was truly ready to move forward.

After thinking all last night that I wanted to run again today instead of waiting until Monday, I decided I would gauge how I felt in the morning and go from there.  I woke up raring to go.  I tried to complete other tasks first, but had no ability to focus and could only think about getting out to the trails and running again. So putting everything aside, I headed over to the park.

Once there, I did have a moment of hesitation, a flicker of wonder, 'was I ready?'.  There was only one way to find out.  I gently reminded myself I don't have to do this, I get to do this and off I started.

The first interval went well, there was a much shorter time to recover between intervals on Week 4, but I blew through it pretty well and was able to keep the breathing under control.  During the second and third intervals, my body reminded me it was not accustomed to running with so much extra gravity, so I eased back on the pace just a tad and that seemed to do the trick.  By the fourth and fifth intervals, I knew I had this.  Everything after that third 'hump' interval was just gravy.  I was thoroughly enjoying the woods, the damp spongy trails, the upcoming twists and curves, the hills up and especially down, it was all so awesome!

All of a sudden it seemed it was over just as quickly as it began.  I was done, it was time for the cool down walk.  I was walking along and looking at the trails, the curves, the hills, all the things I loved and every fiber of my being was screaming out to me, 'we want to run!'.  I could picture little cells in my body shaking their tiny fists at me in rebellion.  The next thing I knew I was running again.  I didn't pay attention to how far or fast, it was a short burst, but I ran until my lungs told me to take a break.  There!  That felt better.  It seemed to quiet the inner voices and I was able to complete my walk in peace.

Until next time.  Happy running!

Week 4 post run meal - Vegan nut burger and fresh organic raspberries

Note:  If you're just beginning running I would recommend sticking to the program, completing each week at least three times with at least one day of rest in between before moving forward to the next training week.