I'm the type of person who likes running with people but mostly staying in my bubble AND run on my own, listening to music and again, being in my bubble. It's funny because I do consider myself a social person, I like to meet people but when I run, I prefer to be in my own thoughts. I'm not keen on chatting although I do it once in a while but overall my running is done keeping to myself.
I like running with a group - it paces me. There are times when I feel tired or cold and I want to take a break but running with a group stops these bad thoughts right there and keep me in line. Not to overly push myself but to keep myself honest. I've discovered that I've been having them a little more than normal in the last few weeks and this is usually an indication of something not "quite right"... so methinks it's time to reconsider a few things.
Cross training. As was mentioned to me last week, it looks like I do too much of it. At first I balked and said "no way!" but given how I was feeling today for the first half of the run, I'm starting to think that spinning 3 times a week IS indeed a bit too much. So I decided to give up the Monday night's crazyness and concentrate on doing a bit of yoga at home. OR I can start work a little later (9:30) and then leave at 5:45 ish to make it to yoga at 6:30. That's an option...
Tuesday run: I loved running with the Running Rats but they are way way too fast for me. And while I understand that it takes a while for a group to accept the new kid on the block, if said kid is back of the pack they don't seem to even pay attention, let alone talk to you. I think I need to work on my pace before I can rejoin the group. I will still combine the two days but will do it on my own. Doing a 7k run at a pace almost a minute faster than my steady run is not what I should be doing now even though I feel elated at the end. That 7k is a pretty long 7k...
Pace group: I knew that eventually the group would split into different pace groups and I'm glad that I found a few ladies that seem to have a pace similar to mine so we're going to run together. Last week, I used this person as a pacer and it turned out that I was pacing her LOL it's always the case... regardless, I'm very happy to have a group around me so we can help each other. We also discussed how the pace was a little fast so we'll adjust next week.
As much as I hate giving up one day of spinning, I do realize that if I don't do this, once the distances really start to get longer, I will suffer. So it's a choice between cross training or running. I guess the answer is easy to find.
Paris Half Marathon, 28,277 registered, 90 days, 20 hours left....
