Endurance Training is 90% Mental

Today's weather was 100% better than last weekend...thank God! After hitting the wall last week and letting my negative thoughts take over my workout, my coach put the 14 miles back on my schedule. There was no going around it I had to face it.

After I blogged about my rough attempt at getting 14 miles in last weekend, my friend "The Bear" (we affectionately call her, and just in case she doesn't want her name mentioned in my blog I will call her "The Bear") reminded me that endurance training is 90% mental. That as much as we are training the body we also have to train our mind. She told me that, I didn't quit, I got 30 minutes of running in and then I got on my bike...all that counts! She told me to pick myself up and try again!!

When I shared my attempt with my coach last week she told me that the first thing I had to do was to stop beating myself up about it. She said unfortunately shit happens and yes, I would learn something from this. She said that sometimes workouts hang over our head and for whatever reason we have ourselves beat before we even get out the door. She reminded me that I am not alone, that this happens to everyone. She advised me to put it behind me and move forward...and that is exactly what I did.

I decided not to focus on the long run at the end of the week, but instead took each day one at a time. Between the temperature and #Stella (blizzard) making an appearance it did make some workouts hard, but I got them done. Slowly I started knocking each workout off the schedule. One day at a time, one step at a time or one spin of the bike wheel at a time. Slowly, Sunday, long run day, was approaching.

This morning it was in the low 30s, there was no chance of precipitation and partly cloudy...what could go wrong? Absolutely nothing. I have said it before and I will say it again...the hardest thing about running is  getting out the door. Today was no different but I  finally got out there and completed the 14 miles today. I will admit that it wasn't easy and the last 2 miles were pure hell but I did it. I got over that hump.

Next week is the Syracuse Half Marathon. I think I am ready! That 13.1 mile run will be very important. However I will face it similar to other training days; I will try to put myself in the right mindset, I will push myself out the door, and I will take it one step at a time.

PS: this was my longest run since 2005. The last time I ran 14 miles I was training for my first marathon with Team In Training!