Minnesota is killer in the winter, especially in the 'dead' of winter, which is right now. More times than not in the last 9 days it has been so cold outside that if you were to spend 15min standing without proper covering you would be sure to get frostbite. This is no joke, they say it one the news.
I have not been able to run outside at all for the last few days, which is a terrible thing when you're in my position. The key to accomplishing anything is sticking to your convictions, that means when you've set out to do something you need to take all the steps that move you toward your goal and not away from it. When I set out to run this spring I want to build up from 20 miles a week to over 40 miles a week within 8 weeks time. This didn't seem too difficult when I plotted it out. The problems come when you deviate from a schedule, not just once but many times.
I love setting goals and have ideas. I dream all the time and have extravagant goals that I want desperately to achieve, but have a really hard time following through with them. Take 'New Years Resolutions' for example. The first few weeks are great, you stick to your diet or workout all the days you have planned and it feels great. Then you skip a day. You get back on track afterward but then something else happens and you miss two days. You get back to the gym and pick up where you left off, well now you go an vacation for 6 days and don't workout or follow your diet plan at all and when you come back it is almost impossible to get caught back up. This is whats going on with me right now. I was doing great, feeling great and getting my miles in, then the cold came. I had no motivation to bundle up and get my running shoes out in the cold, so I didn't. Then I didn't again, for 4 days. Disaster.
I have a treadmill at home, which helps out a lot this time of year, but running on a treadmill may be the worst thing ever invented. You can watch TV or listen to your music but for some reason that constant sound of your shoes on the fake road and the wurr of the motor just ruin the whole experience. Change your speed or incline, turn on the 'Simulated Wind' and you'd think you're ok, but you're not. You just cant help but get bored. All you do is stare at your little stat counter, miles run and calories burned, it takes everything you have to look away and not follow along. Its when you try your everything to not focus on the numbers that you stop focusing on your legs and running, and you falter. There is nothing you can do, you're trapped in your head not being able to think about running because that just makes you want to see your progress and it all starts over again.
When you're on the road its different, you can get lost in the world and as long as you keep your legs going everything works. You can pace yourself with your surroundings and you know when you're moving or not, this is not the case when on the treadmill. Your not moving, really, so the signal your brain gets is "why are we running, we're not getting anywhere?" and you start to fall off the ball. You get tired for no physical reason, you're just bored and you can no longer go on. On the road you can hit 5 miles without hurting, but on the treadmill after 2 you just feel done. It isn't the same and in the end I fear it will hurt me.
So, I'm stuck with a dilemma: not run in the cold and killing my habit, or running with bad form for a shorter period of time and mentally killing the notion of running.
Whats worse, not running and letting my legs and muscles hibernate or hating every step I take giving my mind a bad feeling about this whole running thing?
This weekend it is supposed to be getting warmer, the high 20's and 30's sound great compared to -10 and 5 above. Hopefully this will be the motivation that I am in so desperate need of, otherwise I may close this blog and go back to 'not running'.
No comments:
Post a Comment