Sunday, December 5, 2010

Exertion?

Distance: 1.97 miles
Time: 30 min.
Avg. Pace: 15:14/mile (includes walk breaks)

You know that Rate of Perceived Exertion? I think it's crap. And the reason I think it's crap is because whenever I run, I exert myself for 30 seconds and think that is about all I can do.

I tried this method earlier today. I want Sunday to be my "long" run day. Rather than following any prescribed times, I decided to just run until I felt tired. The first "run" lasted two minutes. Then it went downhill from there. I just don't trust my body to be able to keep going according to how I feel. I feel tired. I feel like I want to stop. I feel like crap...just like the whole exertion thing.

After about two rounds of running and walking, I realized that plan was not for me. So I decided alternating between running a 1/10 of a mile and walking half that distance. I was definitely getting more and more tired by the end of this pattern, but I kept going, because I told myself, "I can do anything for 1/10 of a mile."

I ended up running for 12 minutes and walking 18. Doesn't sound like much. However, it's up from running 9 and walking 22. I must remember this is a process.

One last note for today. It started raining, so I jumped on the treadmill. Less than five minutes into my run, the kids were making me furious getting into things, playing the piano, bugging me, etc. I jumped off the treadmill and told Husband I would rather deal with rain than with those two crazy boys for the next 30 minutes. I run/exercise to de-stress, not get more agitated than before! Sure enough, I came back feeling much better, and luckily the weather held out pretty well. Only minor sprinkles.

1 comment:

The Green Girl said...

Girl, I hope exactly what you mean - I feel that same frustration. We just have to be patient and like you said, remember that this is a process.