The One About Inadequate Training

I had an amazing Christmas holiday but it went by way too fast. After one week in Ottawa, one week in Taiwan, and endless eating in both, I was back in Halifax wondering where the time had gone. I got home on the Monday night and gave myself until Wednesday before lacing up my running shoes. I knew it was going to be hard. After running one 16 km run in Ottawa, my second day in town, I didn’t run again. The only other training I did was sprinting across the Chicago Airport in hopes of catching my flight to Tokyo. I didn’t.  After such unsuccessful strenuous sprinting, I figured I better give myself a week to relax and eat copious amounts of rice. This is why I returned to Halifax inadequately trained. As a result, I was worried about jumping into hill training on Wednesday night. I knew I was out of shape but nothing could have prepared me for the results. The Running Room clinic was doing 9 hills. I told myself I would do 6. And I did. Barely. I’m not even being dramatic when I say I could not breathe. I’m dramatic 90% of the time (that’s probably a dramatic statistic), but I am being realistic when I tell you I actually thought I might be putting my body in physical harm. Even though I could envision my lungs shriveling up and passing out after two hills, I continued because my pride was too strong to quit. I was supposed to be running 9 hills, and here I was struggling with 6! It was a discouraging first run back. So I did what anyone in my position would do: I blamed it on the weather; my body was not used to the cold. Two days later, I did something I swore I’d never do again: I hit the treadmill. Running on a treadmill gives watching the clock a whole new meaning. Seconds feel like minutes; minutes like hours; and hours… well I don’t know because I wouldn’t let it get that far. I ran for 20 minutes at the 6^th level, 20 minutes on the 7^th level and 5 minutes on the 8^th level, all at a level 3 incline. The machine said my pace was 7:30/km. At that pace, I would be running my half marathon in 3 hours, an hour longer than my goal…. And I swear I was running faster than I normally do. After forty-five minutes I was huffing and puffing and drenched in sweat. So I stopped and did what anyone in my position would do: I blamed it on the conditions of the gym and vowed to run outside next time. I’ve never been a fan of treadmill running; I find it tedious and boring. Running is not something I have ever considered a chore, but running on a treadmill makes me wish my run away. But don’t get me wrong, I can definitely see some benefits of the treadmill: For one, you can drink water whenever you want (I never bring a water bottle with me on outside runs); You can forget about layering and just wear cute Lululemon clothes; And you can always feel your hands after your run! But, for me, the only successful part of running on the treadmill was that it made me excited to run outside tomorrow. I know I won’t be bored outside and besides, breathings overrated, right? I wouldn’t change a second of my holidays but I have made the final weeks of my training very difficult. I have a steady run tomorrow and an 18 km Running Room run scheduled for Sunday. I have to work Sunday morning, which means, I either do the 18 km solo or fall even further behind. I’ll leave you in suspense.


Until next time,

Running Romance xx