Little Victories, Episode 1: Today's Run Sucked

Well, it's true. Today's run was not fun. I had several elements working against me today, and I almost succumbed to the most vicious one: laziness. But, I didn't. I went to the park and I finished the workout. Little victory #1: Left the house. Little victory #2: Finished the run.

Let's see, here's my list: tired from moving, sore from painting (squatting, reaching, rolling, etc.), queasy and uncomfortably from cramps (sorry guys), sleepy from being waken up by my screeching and fighting animals, and a little congested from one allergy or another.

So yeah, despite all that, I got up and went. And I hated it the whole time. This is no, "I'm so glad I went because it all got better when I started running" story. Legs hurt, stomach hurt, arms hurt, COULDN'T BREATHE!

Little victory #3: First run of the season in high humidity (86% on my Weather Channel app). With that, I'm officially not looking forward to running this summer.

Let's continue the whining, shall we? I actually cut my second to last running interval short by about 5 seconds. Pathetic. Why not just go the last 5 seconds? It's not like I wouldn't have recovered somehow, right?

On that note, little victory #4: Running the last leg even though I excused myself from doing it after the second to last leg. I did it slow, and it hurt, and I whined internally the whole time, but I did it.

Little victory #5: Despite my whining and moaning and lack of oxygen, I somehow managed to finish only slightly behind my normal pace. Two miles in 28:20 (instead of two miles in 28:00).

Finally, little victory #6: I felt great after and for the remainder of the day. Lesson learned, again. And I'm glad I got to run after having so many days off (haven't worked out since Tuesday).

Sorry for the rant. Let's call this a slump. I think my future motivation on these crappy days will be to step back a "week" in the workout. I could have done Week 1 today and finished fine. It would have been less painful and I wouldn't have been so close to quitting. But is that okay? Do I allow myself that concession?

What about you? I still want to know when you know you need to walk instead of run. Do you ever give yourself an easy workout?

Next run: TBD.

This is the last week of the moving fiasco that is April. Things will be getting easier. I am considering giving myself a try at a treadmill workout. I haven't tried it yet. What should I expect? Easier or harder?