Learning to love the treadmill.

Once the novelty of running wore off, the treadmill has become my frenemy again. See, initially I was so starved to satiate my cardio junkie innards that even the treadmill looked like a blast! Then as the novelty of running wore off and the runs got longer, I started to feel like I used to - somewhere between intense desire to procrastinate and a straight up hatred. Seriously, my subconscious has come up with every possible way to delay me hitting that big green "GO" button. One day last week I literally actually FOR REAL had to go to my car from the locker room THREE TIMES before I was ready to get on the treadmill because I kept forgetting to bring things in. First my towel, then my water, then I left my phone out in the car when I got the water, so I had to go get that.... However, being able to sign in to Netflix and watch The Office is a perk that might get me into the air conditioned building this summer when things get hot:

It's amazing how your subconscious tries to screw you at every turn. I've read a lot of personal development books in the past six months - they all say the same thing: Your brain tries hard to keep you from doing anything even a little uncomfortable because uncomfortable = dangerous. Eff that - I know for a fact that glory lives on the other side of "uncomfortable", so I'm gonna 5-4-3-2-1 it and push though (to decode that, see Mel Robbins and the five second rule!).

My shin pain is under control. The change in cadence from 155 to 160 saw me dropping my intervals again back to 2/3 (walk 2 minutes, run 3 minutes) instead of 1/4 for about a week, but now I'm back to 1/4. I'm doing 1/4 on the treadmill AND increasing the number of repetitions through the intervals until I hit 3 miles. I ran 3 miles once last week and so far twice this week - my shins still feel good! If anything, they're better than they were a few weeks ago. I had a bit of a hiccup last week when I slipped and fell on a solid sheet of ice while taking out the trash (I'm some kinda special, aren't I?). Under the watchful eye of my PT, I took a few days off and then ran cautiously. Thankfully my knee pain is almost gone and I was ready today for something delightfully "new".

Major milestone today: I ran outside for the very first time since November 4th. On that day, if you recall, I ran the YMCA Santa Run 5k in Beaver and hung my first PR at 30:30. Today I ran a 5k in 32:16. I went with 2 minute runs interspersed with 30 second walks and never felt like I was dying. I played a bit with my form - more forward lean, thinking of falling forward to run (that does feel like it takes less effort). My Milestone Pod showed that I'm getting higher leg swing each time I run (apparently this is a good thing, I keep meaning to look that up...). My first mile was actually one of the faster miles I've ever ran at 10:10 and I didn't feel winded yet.

I've learned that running mechanics matter. A LOT. I'm feeling pretty optimistic about what is to come in the next few weeks. Not ten minutes ago I hung a printed version of Hal Higdon's Novice 1 half marathon training plan in my kitchen and crossed off the first two runs.

4 miles this weekend - bring it on!!

On a completely unrelated note - this is what happens when you try to walk your kids to the bus stop on the first nice day of the spring:

Someone faceplants directly into a mud puddle and you're back in the car to drive to the bus stop. Then it's mid-afternoon bath time for B. Poor dude!!