Day 28 and LIFT OFF!

Last night I had a fantastic night of sleep and am feeling pretty good today. So this morning I decided to run Nike’s “Breaking Through Barriers” run. I’ve been wondering for a while if I have what it takes to go a little faster, to increase my pace. My son and his friends will often say that sometimes the slower pace is harder to maintain than a faster pace. It’s an interesting idea, but one that seems counterintuitive. Another idea that I have been toying with is what they always talk about on Nike Run Club. They always say start at a slower pace and often times your body will naturally build to a faster pace, sometimes without you even knowing that you’re putting in more effort. Well that’s not something that you can do on a treadmill. You have to intentionally push a button to make yourself go a faster pace. (That’s why I am very drawn to the idea of running outside again so that I can see if my pace does build again like it did when I was really in shape and running before.) Anyways, back to the treadmill, you can’t naturally build your pace unless you actually intentionally push a button. So during today’s run where Nike was talking about breaking barriers, I decided that I was gradually going to increase my speed. I started out very slow, and whenever the coaches would stop talking, I would increase my pace. One of the ideas that the coaches were trying to communicate about breaking barriers was putting positive thoughts into your head while you’re running and just reminding yourself of your goals. So while I was running I was reminding myself to stay relaxed, and I focused  on sustaining the pace, while at the same time concentrating on bringing my heart rate down by controlling my breathing. At the end of my run I was sustaining a pace faster than I have for a while and I felt really good. At the end of my run, I felt very proud of myself in that I’ve stuck with this whole process of improving my fitness through running, not pressuring myself to go too fast and get injured. Today I was brave to push myself outside of my comfort zone past the barriers that were scaring me. And at the end of my run, I felt like I was truly running. My feet weren’t shuffling like they would in a jog. They had LIFT OFF from the ground. I felt like a real runner!