Mental or Physical

Mental or Physical
Mental or Physical?
Bad runs?
Is it mental?
All in your head.
Or is it physical?
The body just won't cooperate.

And by bad runs, I mean running, so please stop with the diarrhea jokes already, I will cover those at another time.

But seriously, I had one of THOSE runs today. One that is hard to explain. And I can't figure out whether the run sort of sucked because it was all in my head or because the body wasn't ready for it.

Sure, I could make a claim for the head-case issue. I am pretty superstitious when it comes to athetics. I always dust off the pitchers mound before every pitch in softball. I draw a line in the sand before every one of my serves in volleyball and have to serve behind it. In tennis, I rub my belly before I receive every serve. It is the little things that make me the athlete (term used loosely) that I am. It's sports psycology 101.

And today, I didn't follow a single one of my mid-week running routines.

I wasn't wearing the right socks, they came up over my ankle. I didn't have my Adidas visor (or any other visor) and I always run in a visor. I tried wearing sunglasses, and I never wear sunglasses when I run. I put my right shoe on before my left shoe. I didn't have my i-pod with me. And probably the worst thing I did was that I was chewing Trident peperment and it was the whitening type and not the original Trident which is the only gum I chew running.

While the run was going well, I didn't even think about any of these things. Only when the run started going bad, did I realize all those things I did differently.

But then again, it could have been a physical thing. After all, it was 90+ outside when the run started and macho me chose not to bring any water with me and ran right past the water fountains 1.5 miles into the run. I also started the first 2 miles at about a 10 minute per mile pace, not too fast, but probably too fast for 6 miles in that heat. The first 2 miles were mostly in the shade and flat. About the time the route became more hilly, I lost the shade and felt the energy rapidly being sucked from my body. And my pores were completely open and sweat was pouring out.

Miles three and four were brutal. I was tired. I was dehydrated. I was thinking about everything I did wrong in preparing for this run. The hills were kicking my butt. And that gum. I couldn't figure out why I was chewing that gum (and I did have my normal running gum in my car with me so there really wasn't any reason for me to have that gum in my mouth). The sunglasses were bugging me and sweat was getting into my eyes because I didn't have a visor catching it.

Yep, mentally I was shot. Physically, I was shot.

And then I saw a snake on the path.

And that didn't change a damn thing.

So at some point between miles three and four, I decided to pit my mental self versus my physical self and see which side would get me through those last 2 miles.

And the challenge was on.

Mentally, I was able to tell myself that I shouldn't be tired after just 4 miles and if I was tired, just treat it like the last several miles at the marathon. Perseverance will win out. Sure, I was a little deydrated, but that will happen on race day, too. And the gum, does it really make a difference? And everything else, just suck it up and play. Quit making excuses. You are going to have to get back to your car sooner or later. Why not make it sooner? My mental side was really giving my physical side a good ass chewing.

And it worked!

My physical side started realizing that I was just running 6 miles. Sure, I usually only take that particular trail 3 - 4 miles, but it was only 6 miles today and I have run further in hotter conditions. I can run 6 miles in my sleep. I really wasn't that dehydrated. Plus, I was re-approaching the flat, shady part of the course so the run was bound to get easier.

And surprisingly enough, I started to once again perform better. Not as good as the first 2 miles. But better than the middle 2 miles.

All in all, I averaged just over 11 minute miles for the 6 miles, slower than I would have liked to run it, but that is OK.

Because I think I finally learned that for whatever reason.

Today.

Now.

Running (at least 6 miles and probably 26 miles) is more mental than physical.

This run and this lesson came at that perfect time in my marathon training.

I am ready for the marathon, physically. I can do it. And I can do it faster than ever before.

But before I start, I need to remember a few simple things.

Avoid mental distractions.

Put that left shoe on first.

Make sure I pack the visor for San Diego.

Leave the sunglasses in the car.

But most importantly, chew the right kind of gum.