Six miles has really always been my nemesis. When I first started ramping up my mileage in 2012, I plateaued around six mile long runs for several weeks. I just couldn't get over the hump - mentally more so than physically. I finally broke through, but it took a concerted effort. And six continues to taunt me today. This very day, in fact, I found myself facing my old foe six.
It was a dreary morning, and no part of me wanted to leave my warm bed at 5:45 to get ready for my run. I nearly convinced myself to postpone the run until tomorrow, but dreary as it was, today's weather looked more promising than tomorrow's, so I forced myself out the door.
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| My new AMR gear: the one bright spot in today's run. |
The run started off fine enough. I was happy to be outside and to have a few moments to myself. I quickly discovered, however, that I was not such a fun person to be around. I was inexplicably crabby, feeling annoyed with the weather (not quite rain but not quite not rain) and tired of dodging ankle-deep puddles. I was listening to a fabulously upbeat and positive podcast featuring the incredible Olympian and mother runner Deena Kastor, yet I couldn't stop myself from spiraling further into a funk.
Around mile four, I challenged myself to finish with negative splits, an attempt to salvage something useful from the gloomy morning. That idea changed my mental focus enough that I could (finally!) settle into the run. And I did it! I managed to finish with a strong effort and completed the run with picture-perfect negative splits.
All's well that ends well, but I hope I can improve my relationship with that number which is afraid of seven (you know the joke, right?). I have many midweek six's on deck in this training cycle, and I certainly don't want to suffer through each of them the way I suffered through today's run. Is there any particular distance that taunts you? How do you power through those tough runs?
