I am going to get on the negative train for a few minutes and then I'll get off. The weather today was like a bad Irish day. Sideways rain pushed so by strong winds. I planned on doing my tempo scheduled for 4.5 miles at lunch time. It was bucketing down and the fact that Francine is sick and many friends are sick I decided to take the soft option and go on the treadmill. From the second the decision was made it went pear shaped.
The gym was packed and the AC was not on so it was steamy and felt like a humid summer day. There are good treadmills at Reebok but there are some dodgy ones too and since it was so crowded I ended up on a dodgy one. I knew something was wrong when my warm up of 2.5 miles at 7 minute pace felt really hard. The frustration was compounded when my shuffle ran out of juice right in the middle of Bloc Party "The Prayer". I can accept that I now rely on my Shuffle but by accepting it I also know that I am trying to deal with the addiction. However as far as the Mill goes I need my sounds. I kicked off my tempo, sans music at 5:20 pace and I may as well have been going all out. I got to 3 miles at 16:05 and I had to stop. Heart Rate was over 200, laughable. I ended up doing a few more half mile pick ups but the sweat and the bewilderment at how the machines cannot be calibrated correctly left me feeling down. It poses the question do we rely too much on measurement? I should have just thrown a towel over the readout and ran at HR or what feels like tempo. Anyway, after some moping about the gym I drove home and now I can reflect on all the positives.
1. My knee did not hurt at all.
2. I still had a very hard workout despite not knowing how hard I was running.
3. I recovered very quickly after the session.
4. I had one of the toughest Yoga practices tonight and I feel like a new man.
5. I listened to UP! by M83 walking home from Yoga and I may as well have been floating.
Sports psychologists call it visualization. I find this very humorous because we have been dreaming since we were kids and when you get a bit older they tell you to visualize. I don't know about you but I dream everyday. I dream on my runs, when I'm driving, when I'm at Yoga, when I can't sleep at night. You all know you do it, you listen to an amazing track that does something to you and you float. Nothing else matters except you and the song. Since my love for music is such that it has an obvious and very real affect on me I can tell you that when I walk with my iPod and a touching song comes on I am taken to a different place. Walking up the hill the song UP! came on and suddenly it ended 5 minutes later and I could not recollect any of the walk I had just done. As the Kate Bush inspired track played I thought about the positives of
the day and how no one bad session was going to deter me from this journey. Patrick Bateman uses music in a different way, it is a soundtrack to his life that keeps him grounded and "normal". "Do you like Huey Lewis and The News?"My friend John talked to me today about patience and doing the little things, he reminded me of why I keep this blog and now I feel at complete ease. Another good day, and one more day fitter, happier, and more productive.
Love Kel
HR over 200. Impressive. Good taking with you today.
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