My Voice of Reason

Yesterday Nate and I met up with Craig for a long run. They were going to do 17 as they have Grandma’s marathon coming up in 11 short weeks.

I waffled between going with them for a part of it, or doing my own run with Mesa. I had been throwing up again the night before and my stomach wasn’t 100%.

But, I decided that company makes everything better, so laced up and ran out the door with them.

Immediately, I could tell that this was harder than normal. Ug. What is this? I looked down and saw we were running at ~8 min pace. Could that be it? I know my “easy” pace is now 8:30s, so that could definitely be it. I sent a silent message to Mesa to “Pull!!” 🙂

Practicing for the Fast and the Furry 5k at the end of May! Mesa will definitely need all of her strength/pulling abilities then

Another picture from the Fast and the Furry. I just love how proud Mesa looks 🙂

 At 3 miles, my HR spiked to 185 while running up a hill with them. I was out of breath & just WORKING. I told them that I’d just drop back at that point, but they were okay slowing down the pace as well.

They kept me talking through 5 miles, which kept my mind off my nauseated-feeling self (and also my mind off of my effort…). At 5, I decided to turn around to head back for home, even though I wanted to go longer – 10 used to be a walk in the park! – I figured it had been a few weeks since I had done something long. Better to error on the side of short vs. long.

The 5 miles back seemed to take forever. I slowed the pace to 8:35s, and still my HR hoovered around 180. At mile 8, I noticed I was running 9:00 miles with my HR still in the low 180s. What?!?

I made it home, drank a ton (it was warm out!), and then felt the need to crawl into bed. I was cold, and my brain just wanted to shut off.

basically.

Nate got me up ~20 mins later when he returned. He looked at me quizzically.

Q: Why did I feel the need to go 10 today? A: The plan was 8-10, and honestly, I felt like a complete cop-out not at least doing double digits when you guys were doing 17. Definitely pride. Definitely ego.

His response: do you think either I, or Craig, cares how far or how fast you’re going now? Or anybody? I know you feel the need to prove you can still do this, still want to work hard, but you are PREGNANT.

Q: Did you consider slowing down even further at the end? Walking? A: [pause] Actually, no, I didn’t… guess I’ve conditioned myself to think 9:00 miles should be “slow enough”

His response: Maybe next time when you see your HR climbing so high, you could take a 1-2 minute walk break. Or just slow your pace down even further?

Then he talked for a long time. He reminded me that even though “I used” to be able to run ~17-20/day, that running “used” to come easy, and that 9:00 miles “used” to be considered too slow, that things have changed. My body is slightly different, and my physiology is different. I will handle heat differently (probably a BIG factor during that run, I am guessing). I have never been pregnant before, so I am NOT allowed to compare myself to pre-pregnancy distances or times.

And most of all, I need to listen to my body more.

Thanks, Nate, for being the best voice of reason. Seriously, I don’t know what I would do without you!