Wednesday HITT

Rough workout this morning. The baby slept in (not a bad thing) until five (I know) so I got to the gym late. I only had a short period time so I just hammered out two miles at a ladder pace. I've been trying to stack my runs on back to back days to give extra fatigue to my legs a bit. I've been doing ok on the short to mid runs but building endurance has been tougher. Sometimes I feel like if I max out my legs than I might have a better shot at building them up a bit.

For some reason I just had to white knuckle it this morning. From the beginning my legs felt dead and heavy. Even my warm up felt like drudgery. By the time I was hauling at my max speed (and believe me I am still pokey I think it was 10:30 pace) I was playing games in my head to hang on. The first mile I did breath counting - I concentrate on getting a good rhythm of breathing going - nice and slow - and count to thirty. I can usually get a quarter of a mile in per thirty count. I tried to watch the TV on my machine but ESPN was annoying this morning and I settled on the movie Juno. This was weirdly the worst movie to try to run HITT to - just too slow a pace.

I managed to hang on for two miles and it was worth it. With my current schedule I just have to squeeze in even short runs to get my miles back up. I admit that it is hard to get back on track with little two milers, especially when I am not really up for running every morning.

There is a satisfaction in sticking out a run that isn't going well (even if it is short). It makes you feel smug to have worked out when you didn't want to. And it is undeniable that I get that physical boost from the run. But a workout like that hangs in your mind, makes you wonder if you will ever get back on track and it leaves this bad taste if your mouth.