Days 36 - 40 Sanctuary Explained and Lunch Time Workout!

Week 5  and I am still trying to get accurate consistency going with my training....to me this means following the schedule exactly.  Thus far as you have noticed, I have skipped workout days, combined two workouts in one and have not stuck to the schedule.  My goal has been to do workouts on schedule, yet I am still striving to get there and balance life and training.

Monday and Tuesday workouts did not happen.  Why???? well I have no excuse and the answer is I just did not want to do them.....THIS IS NOT GOOD.  I did not put running up above other priorities and it did not get done.  So Wednesday I got to work and told myself that I was going to the gym today during lunch breah....and I did - this being the first lunch break gym workout in months.

I ended up doing Tuesday's workout on Wednesday (seriously will shoot to get better at this) which called for 5 miles.  I contemplated when I would get my Wednesday Hill workout (5 x hills) in and as I write this it is looking as if I will do it on Saturday morning along with my Saturday workout. So I ended up  doing 5 miles on the treadmill during lunch.

I am thankful to have a job that I can take about an hour  and half now and then to do such long workouts :)

 So this took me close to an hour to complete - the goal was to just get it done and I was able to run through it all yet varying my pace between 10min/mile and 8:30min/mile.

On Thursday I did stick to schedule and did 3 miles again on the treadmill. I ended up doing this at night after coming home from work.  This was hard, as this was also the first workout done after coming home from the JOB, seeing and feeding my bubbly baby, then having to change and drive to the gym....HARD! Yet I know that evening workouts will be necessary and I am glad I accomplished getting out of the house.

 I am happy with my time on this as I finish within about 30 minutes. 

For this workout I ended up doing the "random" setting in where the treadmill varied my incline.  I feel this setting mimics an outdoor feel nicely.

Monday's 3 miles is set to be done on Friday, which of course is my official rest day as technically I rested on Monday.

In my last blog I wrote that running is my sanctuary yet I did not really explain what I meant. I would like to communicate more clearly and think this would be a great way to begin. Sanctuary is defined as a place of safety, refuge, or a holy place. In this place you feel safe and protected.  When I run, I don't begin in this place - I have to work to get to this place where I feel safe and protected from the harshness of reality. 

The work comes through as running past the aches, running past doubt, running past any sadness or obstacles that I am facing, any pain emotionally that I am feeling and arriving at my sanctuary where hope and positivity reign.  Where my obstacles no longer seem so big. When my body enjoys the act of running and feel no aches or pains....some call this "runner's high" and the feeling that I am go and accomplish anything -that I am strong and happy.

I don't feel this every time I run yet most of the time I do, especially when I run to achieve a certain milestone as I exert more energy then just to run in a comfortable state and as I ramp up more mileage  per training session.

I want to go to my sanctuary more times than not so I normally run with the notion that when it gets to comfortable, its time to increase my pace! I try not to stay too comfortable for to long....seems weird yet I know that is how I get to my sanctuary - by being in a comfortable state of mind while my  body is uncomfortable - my way of getting to the finish line in a marathon!  I hope I explained clearly my running sanctuary.

In transformation,

Yvonne

In running, every step you make and every push forward changes you - it transforms you into a different person. Every single run adds something to you and then it also takes something away. You are not the same person you have been at the starting line and by the time you come to the finish your inner self has been reinvented and reimagined. "The Zen of Running: The Path to Completeness", meanrat.com