Embrace the training

Half marathon training is HARD! I think I now know why I did not train last year.

Today was long run day, since I did not run last week I repeated so had a 10K race to do. I thought I would start there and push myself to go longer and do 8-9 miles.

Of course, my girls woke me up at 3:45am again so that right there did not help my day to get started on the right foot. I tried to sleep off and on on the couch until finally getting up around 6:30am. Had my coffee, ate some food then made the hubby breakfast and off to the treadmill I went.

The run started off okay, my speed was going well and the first few miles were not too bad. I began to struggle to find something to watch, which caused me to focus more on the dreaded numbers. I felt like I should have been doing way better and watching the miles go up so slow just took a toll on my mind.

The one think I can say, is I stayed on the treadmill and I got to the 6.1 miles. I walked way more then I am proud of and felt very defeated in myself.

More important than the running and not the best time is actually what I did after that. I allowed myself to be disappointed and then I knew I needed to fix my attitude and fast.

This week I had focused on working on a morning and night routine. We went out to celebrate a friends birthday and when I got home I did not due the last few things I should have in my new night routine. Which I believe is why I was not as motivated to do my morning routine. Since I did not do that before my run, it did not set me up for success.

After my running and allowing myself the few minutes to be discourage during my stretching. I got right to work on what I knew I needed to do. I got out me new 365-day journal reading book by Bob Goff. If you have never heard of him or this book you should check it out. Since I hate to wait, I got mine at Barns and Nobles but it is also on Amazon of course.

I did my 3 minute devotional for women, took a few deep breaths in silence then went and took a shower. I listed to “The Universe Has Your Back” by Gabrielle Bernstein. The book helps you to align yourself with the universe and has meditation practices in it to help. There is just something soothing and calming about her voice and the cleansing of a hot shower that does wonderful things for the mood.

I had a different post in mind for this week, which I still plan to write, but I felt strongly pulled to share this experience of both a disappointing run day as well as the 3 things I did to get out of my funk. After Doing my devotions, that few deep breaths in silence, listening to a positive audiobook and a cleansing shower I feel ready to take on the rest of my day.

The biggest thing I want you to take away from this post is this: Not everyday will be great, not every moment will be great. The important thing is to find something that will help you change a bad mood into a good one and not ruin a whole day. There is always something to be grateful for in each and every day.

This training for a half marathon is tough, but I know I can do it and when I get done I will be both stronger and so proud of myself for doing it. It was one bad run day and I will make the next one a better one!

Embrace the Training