The Sweet Feeling of a Mental Victory

As you saw from Saturday’s post, I tried a new workout Saturday with two friends. You also know that I am not the biggest lover of strength training. I am making an effort to incorporate it into my routine because of the benefits, but it is always a struggle for me. Well, Saturday, it was a challenge. the TRX system is a great challenge, and that hour session helped me realize where my strength training was, and how it could improve. It wasn’t easy, I was exhausted by the end and my muscles were shaking. But, I did it. A small victory!

So of course, after a workout like that, you know you will wake up to sore muscles the next day. I was set to run 6-8 miles on Sunday. I didn’t prepare well for it at all. Here is what my weekend looked like:

Saturday: workout at 10:00 am, breakfast of egg white veggie omelet and toast, cleaned the house, picked up groceries for dinner. Homemade pasta and chicken/turkey meatballs for dinner with a friend. Some drinks. Definitely not enough water. Cupcakes with ice cream in the middle. Stayed up late.

Sunday: woke up sore. Had french toast and bacon for breakfast, laid around, drank some water. Still very sore. Decided to try a run anyway…

So, I changed, had a Honey Stinger vanilla gel, filled up my water bottle, packed some Honey Stinger pink lemonade chews and my tunes and headed out. Seriously, walking out of my development felt weird (you know that sore muscle I think I’m walking funny feel). I realized it was pretty freaking windy. Great, let’s add that to the mix. So, after the first 3/4 mile I wanted to turn around and go home. I told myself well, that will be 1.5 miles, so you should just keep going and you can cut the route so you get at least 2 in if you don’t want to do 3. So, I ran up hill into the wind. (I swear in Vegas there is always a headwind) I at this point also decided to take walk breaks when I needed them, but to keep them to a certain number of light poles. If I was running and wanted to walk, I couldn’t until I passed a certain number of light poles, yes… I play mental games with myself to keep me going. Well, when I hit the point where I could turn and go home and settle for 3 miles, I told myself, head out a bit and at least get in 4. I knew deep down if I could get my feet to go that way, I would end up getting 7 miles in. I wouldn’t stop until I hit my scheduled turnaround point. So, I trucked it up to the park, filled the water bottle, had the chews and did a loop around the park. Heading out of the park I felt a sense of happiness and pride. My legs were exhausted and I knew I was slower than normal, but, I also had about 1.5 miles left until I hit 7 miles.

As I turned the last corner and finished my run at 7 miles I almost cried. Not from the pain (well, not entirely) but from the joy I felt for actually running the 7 miles when  I didn’t want to get off the couch. When I had every excuse to not go and did a good job of not preparing. I went anyway. I posted my run from the app to daily mile and said: “didn’t beat my time today, but beat my mind. Better victory”. I shut up the doubting side of my brain, I overcame the thoughts of negativity and self doubt and completed 7 miles. It wasn’t until about 30 minutes later I looked at my pace. Because honestly, I didn’t care. I ran to run, to beat my mind… and I did. And yes… my pace was slow, and I don’t care.

So… remember the next time your mind is telling you no, and the self doubt is creeping in, that you are capable of more than you think. You will never know how much until you try. Get out there, take the first step and see where it leads. Mental victories are amazing… I honestly think that brutal 7 miles was more rewarding than some race finish lines. I challenge you to not just step out of your comfort zone but to destroy the hold that keeps you in it. Achieve YOUR mental victory!