Day 19: After three days off, I was a little concerned that my legs would not know what to do! Since I only skipped a short run on day 17, I went ahead and went on with today's scheduled run of six miles. I've been told it is normal to have to skip out on runs due to life, but skipping on the long runs is what gets you messed up. Those are the ones I would want to skip the most!
Today's run wasn't good or bad--it just was. It was a relief to tune out the world for a little bit and focus on something else. At about mile 4 though, I realized how bored I was mentally. Somehow my legs were just going and going, and I didn't have to think about it (which is what you want), but at the same time, I was feeling overstimulated looking around at the twenty televisions in the gym. In fact, it was seeing the inside of the gym that made my run more challenging than actually moving my legs. My legs knew what to do, but my mind didn't. It was like my body was cut in half horizontally, and I just had to get the top half to go with the flow like the bottom half. Granted, I still was feeling the soreness of the run in my legs, but that wasn't anything I wasn't used to.
Because the inside of the gym was getting the best of me, and my ipod wasn't helping me tune it out (and I certainly didn't want to stare at the twenty TV's that were making me anxious), I tried something else today: I closed my eyes, and it worked! For a few moments at a time, I wasn't inside the gym slaving away on the treadmill. The only connection I had to the treadmill was that fact that my hands were holding on to the handlebar, so I wouldn't fall.
I'm not sure how great this is for my training since I can't run with my eyes closed on race day, but man, was that an awesome way to escape the gym! It was almost like I was sleep running! I've been known to sleep-walk and sleep-talk, but I feel like I'm onto something here. Wouldn't it be great to run a half marathon and not know you did (except for the fact that you wouldn't be able to move the next morning)!
Days 17 and 18 were rest days, although I did not get very much rest. I actually got very little rest because we were aurora hunting until 1:30am each morning. Needless to say, I could tell my body wasn't going to go for exerting energy because what it really needed to do was preserve energy. I was a tired girl all week! Not sleeping on Tuesday night is not a good way to start a week. Not sleeping the next two nights after did not help.
I had planned on running on day 17 but figured it was kinda like getting sick. Sometimes you have to just not do anything, which includes running. I was a little concerned that this would slowly be the end of my training if I enjoyed my time off too much, but honestly, I would rather get sleep and run than not run because I'm not sleeping. So if I plan on sleeping again, which I do, I shall also run.
Quote of the day: "A runner must run with dreams in his heart"
-Emil Zatopek
Thought this dream quote was appropriate since this post is all about sleeping!
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