Another week has gone by and that just means one thing, it is time to push it!I must confess, I haven't been stellar at getting up as early as I want to the past two days. Cuddling with darling daughter just feels so much more pleasant but yet, I know I would love to get some good running miles in before work. Last night when darling daughter asked me if I could make her breakfast in the morning I had to let her know, nope, Mommy wants to get up early and run. That is one element of Push It Wednesday, to get up and get it done. No excuses.
So when the alarm went off this morning I hit the snooze button. What? You expected me to say I leapt out of bed with ease? Nope, but just one snooze and then I pulled myself out of bed after hearing the trusty coffee maker calling my name. Yep, I am back to programming it to start brewing in the mornings for two reasons. First, it saves me the time of going through the steps in the wee hours. Minutes count you know. And second, the sound and potentially smell of coffee does help me get up.
Since I did a tempo run last week my goal for this week's Push It Wednesday was Yasso's. You can read more about Yasso's HERE but essentially, the idea is to build up to 10 of them and the amount of time you run the 800 meters in can predict your marathon time. Do I buy into it? Not quite yet but hey, I haven't built up to 10 yet and why stop trying? It is a good workout. Since the treadmill tells you miles, not meters, I do 0.5 miles for each repetition and yes, technically 800 meters is 0.497 miles but are you really going to get on my case for 3/1000th of a mile? And I am running each Yasso in 4 minutes....so hey, perhaps that 4-hour marathon just may happen. Or if I pick up the pace a bit, perhaps I will break 4 hours!
My plans:
My B plan was to run 4 Yasso's. I did that on 12/26/12. No, I am not going full force to get to 10 right now. I am a huge believer in slowly working up my pace, intensity, and duration of runs. My A plan was to run 5 Yasso's. Yep, just add one more on. My A+ plan was to run 6 Yasso's.
How did it go?If I told you easy breezy it really wouldn't align with Push It Wednesday, would it? Since I was short on time, darn snooze button, I did a 0.5 mile warm-up and started the Yasso's. The first one was tough. It always is. The next one, easier. I focused on my form, not tightening up my shoulders, keeping my hands unclenched, and running light. The time went by. Then each Yasso began to feel a bit harder. My breathing was picking up earlier in each segment. When I hit the last Yasso it was tough and I really focused on form and my mantras and some other self talk. It kinda went like this:
Strength
Push It
You can do this
Halfway there
Strength (my 2013 power word)
Strength
I am dying
NO NEGATIVES
Strength (still hearing a bit of death there)
1 more minute
Strength (yep, still some death in there)
If I hear one more negative you will have to do another Yasso!
30 seconds
I got this!
Ironically, at the I got this! point I felt pretty darn good and like I could tackle some more Yasso's if I had the time. You see, the final Yasso is always tough but I don't know how much of it is physical versus mental. The final stretch can always feel tough.
How did you push it today?
Daily Gratitude: I am thankful that my daughter still loves to cuddle with me.
Daily Affirmation: I do have inner strength.
