Resolve — good to know I have some of it
Running Diaries: 09/12/2021
The plan was to run at least 10K today, but as I approached two kilometres, I thought, “I am done.” I was experiencing pain in my left ankle (probably from yesterday’s run). Somehow I forged on —
Today’s Goal:
The goal was quite clear to me from the start. This month I am trying to make 10 kilometres the standard runs. Over the course of the past three months or so — five kilometres have become the staple distance for my runs. I intend to slowly increase the distance to 10 kilometres this month. The idea was to also run 20 loops around a park during this 10-kilometre run.
How did the run feel?
I started out fine, and again like yesterday, my primary focus would be my form. Everything else — the pace and the timings would be something I would not be focusing on. But as I approached the second kilometre, I felt a slight pain in my left ankle. The pain was not intense, but noticeable. As I pushed on, my head kept telling me to stop. I did not want to end up hurting my ankle even more and prevent myself from running in the days to come. However, I decided to persist a bit further. My philosophy with pain during runs has become “ As long as I am not limping I am good to go”. And so I slowed down a fair bit (or so I thought) — and kept moving. Over the past three months, I have also been able to observe that 5 kilometres is a distance I am able to do. As long as I feel I am not absolutely battered and bruised, I can somehow push towards and complete the first 5 kilometres. Equipped with this insight, I told myself to first get to the milestone, and then see how I felt and decide whether or not to push on.
I had almost completed 5K’s when I got to the park. I took a quick scan of the body, and I did not feel bad. In fact, the pain in the left ankle seemed to have subsided. And I told myself to run the 20 loops around the park as planned. It was not going to be easy. Now boredom had set in. “Someone remind me — why I am running?” I asked myself. I had to push on through the goal of getting to 10k was now in sight, and having come this far I did not want to give up. A little over an hour and I had done 12 kilometres — two more than originally planned.
Overall pace:
The overall pace was a good one even today. I thought I had really struggled in the first three kilometres. But once I got back home and looked at the splits it was not as slow as I had thought it was. I am trying to make it a habit of not looking at the split times during my runs as it messes with my head and then ultimately messes my runs.
Even during the times, I thought I was struggling with the ankle pain, I was still doing what I normally do — a good 6:36/Km.
I am extremely pleased with how the run progressed today. I did get a bit carried away in the 9th kilometre and pushed myself a bit. But otherwise, I see a decent pace and a “somewhat consistent” pace throughout. The idea is to be more consistent as I keep running.
Final words
As I was struggling today during my run, it occurred to me that I had not been stretching enough. I also have not been putting enough time into building leg strength. This is something that I would like to work on. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with the mental resolve that I showed today. And I think today’s experience makes me a better runner, and even more so gives me a great deal of confidence in myself to be persistent especially when the going gets tough.
Today’s run: https://www.strava.com/activities/6361111938
