Don't forget to enjoy it!

I'm in the final week of taper before my first HIM next Sunday. I've been training hard for months and I'm ready to race. Today was the first time in a while that I've gone out and just done whatever I felt like for "training". It reminded me that you need to step back once in a while and just enjoy what you're doing. Don't get me wrong, I love the hard/long workouts and the challenge of pushing my limits and I enjoy every session...but today was a totally different kind of enjoyment. I just relaxed and ran for fun. Here's what I wrote in my training log:

1h 3m 45s 8.40 miles 7m 35s /mile

What a relaxing run! My training plan called for a tempo run today but I just didn't feel like doing it I felt really tired for some reason and woke up with a headache thatlasted all day. I decided to leave the HRM at home, ditch the trainingplan and go for a nice easy run with no particular goals except torelax, enjoy the beautiful afternoon, and reflect a little on mytraining and mentally prepare for my race next weekend. I figure I wascruising in very low Z2 with an RPE around 4. It felt great to just runat whatever pace felt comfortable and not be preoccupied with my HRM. Idid pick up the pace slightly over the last mile or so but stillnothing beyond a relaxing cruise. Nice pace too considering how relaxedI felt...could have easily gone 2+ hours at this effort level.

Sometimes I forget about enjoying the time I spend training and get too focused on the challenge. Today was a great opportunity to just run because I love to run.


Edited by TH3_FRB 2005-09-05 8:01 PM