Self Belief

Today was a busy day. I hate Tuesdays! I had NO time to think about the track session I had in store for me with my run coach. Perhaps this is best I wonder? I did my usual dash in dash out with 20 minutes to spare between work and the arranged meet time. As I whirled through the house, hubby asked what I was doing today... ‘I can’t remember’ I replied, ‘I don’t think he’s told me’ and rushed off out the door.

Then it dawned on me. I remember now. Mile reps. Hmmmmmmmmmm. All the way there I begin to ponder how boring that sounds – 4 laps of the track for each mile. Yawn. I hate the running track at the best of times!

Coach bounds out of his car, all wrapped up (it’s apparent he’s doing no running today!) grinning, springing on the spot and exclaims ‘hello! Are we ready for this then?’ I reply in monosyllables and off we go!

Task: 4 x 1 mile with short timed rests in between. Great. ‘I’m doing this for your own good’ he announces, still grinning at me!

Keith positions himself on the finish line with the stop watch, apparently planning to report to me each lap what the time is so far. Me being one for figures, he probably knows this strategy will either make or break me. We are about to find out which one it is!

Mile 1

Lap 1, I concentrate on NOT setting off too fast, checking my watch as I leave the start line ‘don’t you be looking at that watch!’ he barks at me! It feels easy, as I pass him he announced ‘oooooh that’s a bit fast. Ooops. The hurt will start in a minute I think to myself. Lap 2, 3, 4 still ok. Mile 1, 36 seconds faster than my target time. J excellent. But no time to celebrate, no no. Crack of the whip and off we go again.

Mile 2

Off I set, didn’t dare look at the watch, lap 1, ok. Lap 2, ok, lap 3, starting to be a little less than ok, and the times were slipping away. EEEEK. I have a mental wobble on the first bend of lap 4. I hear him shout ‘last lap... come on!’ so I dig in. I am DETERMINED not to give up so soon into the session. I GASP over the line in my exhaustive asthmatic way, to be told it was only 2 seconds slower than the first, and still 34 seconds faster that the target time. Excellent!

Mile 3

It took some recovering from that second one. Yes I do have asthma, but usually only stress / exercise related. Yes, I was pretty stressed! My legs felt the protest as soon as I set off from this one. I began to feel the lactic burn, I could hear Kim http://www.kimingleby.co.uk/ piping in my ear ‘did you do the best that you could, on the day, with the conditions?’ NO! I wasn’t. COME ON MEL!! With renewed enthusiasm I dragged my sorry ass round the last lap. I was damned if I was going to give any time away on this mile, that was the mistake I made on every race, so this WAS going to be as fast. Result? Exactly the same as mile 2! OH MY GOSH!!

Mile 4

Needed serious mental strength here. I was sure before I even started that I would not make it round. I was exhausted. After lap 2, the time reports suggested I was losing far too much time per lap to maintain the pace of the previous miles. I set off on the bend of lap 3 thinking this is a waste of time, why am I doing this, a triathlon is only 3 mile run, I don’t need this 4^th, its ok, 3 were alright weren’t they. Then that blooming Kim popped into my head again. No Kim, you just KNOW I wasn’t doing the best I could was I now, let’s face it! So the remainder of that mile, I had Kim mentally chasing me round, I had Keith going on at me in the other ear stand tall, relax, hips forward, drive... my head was spinning. I dug in. As I crossed the line I was SURE that I had run that one 30 seconds slower. Nope. I only lost 3 more seconds.

The moral of this session?

·        I am better than I think

·        I am making GOOD progress

·        This coached running IS working

·        I CAN push myself just that bit further than I thought I could

·        If I don’t look at the data, perhaps I run better than I thought possible

·        I DO feel pleased with myself and I am pleased that Coach is pleased.

·        The track IS NOT a scary place! :)