Ok not really my mind more of ever muscle in my body that I have paid little attention to over the last 37 years! ( BTW, "My Mind's Playing Tricks on Me" is a great song by the Getto Boys song from the 90's) So since I had put one training session down I figured that I would have no problem with training day 2. Wrong. Although, I was really excited about working out in the morning before work, my mind and body teamed up against me to give me 27 excuses to NOT run. Even though, I am still worried about me knees, they were not an issue, so I should have been ready right. Wrong again. I felt tightness in my quads and my back was a little stiff. There goes all the junk in my head trying to to convince "Da Running Man' that those two things would keep me from running and finishing. Well I overcame my mental blockage and had a great run.
Why was it great you ask . . . it doesn't matter if you asked or not I'm just going to tell you. Well the main reason was I knew what to expect so I could concentrate on one thing instead of it all. So I picked relaxation and breathing. I wanted to make sure that I was relaxed. ChiRunning teaches that it is harder to hurt a relaxed muscle. So with this in mind, that's what I did relaxed. It's harder than you think, because as I took a physical inventory every 5 minutes while I ran, I found that when I tried to focus on my alignment and my posture, I would start to tense up in my shoulders. And when I relaxed I realized how much tention I was actually carrying, and God knows I didn't need any extra baggage, physical or mental.
Another thing ChiRunning teaches you is to be aware of your body. Being aware of what hurts or how tense an area is let's you know if you are doing things right . . . or wrong. I knew I was running better because of three things. 1) Quads hurt afterwards. I read that runners usually get injured because the little muscles are taking a beating, the cause of shin splints. Since my shin, my calves nor my knees were not hurting, my form was getting better. 2) My Back didn't hurt ( as much ). I felt tightness, but nothing like the first run. I I knew I my alignment was better because the tightness was across my back not just on one side like the first run. This tells me that I was aligning my body better and my spine was rotating correctly to take the strain off of my back. 3) I could talk while I ran. If you are breathing right with a good pace you are suppose to be able to carry on a conversation. Although I have great conversations in my head that doesn't really help you. So although I looked crazy every 5 or 10 minutes I would say something out loud to myself to see if I could carry on a conversation if someone was actually with me. And I could!
Well, no that Day 2 is done, I'm taking two days off for recovery and will run again Friday. At the moment, I'm very excited but I know my body and mind are meeting as I type to test my committment to the cause . . . "Fight the Power"
Today's success: 8.5
Why? Felt good to do it in the morning. Back pain less. No major knee pain. Increased distance in the same amount of time.
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