Inception

I had a strange morning this morning.

My alarm went off, and to my surprise it was much later than I had planned. I was a bit baffled because I specifically remembered setting it, and I couldn't think why I would have set it so late. As it was I really wasn't sure if I had enough time to go for my intended run. Given the time I started doing the usual deliberation, should I, shouldn't I, I don't have time, but if I don't go now I won't be able to fit the run in...

I was right at the peak of my indecision when my alarm went off and I woke up.

My first reaction when waking up and realising that it was a dream was one of relief, 'phew I thought, it is 4:30am, I have heaps of time to go for my run'.

I told my wife about my dream this morning, which she thought was hilarious. An interesting insight into the way my mind works, I think she called it. Not only does muscle memory mean that I run and ride in my sleep, twitching away, but my brain gets in on the act as well, applying non-existent training guilt. Like I needed more of that.

Once I actually was a awake, I headed out for my run. My legs were feeling a bit flat today and so my plan was to take it pretty easy. The run was an hour broken up with sections of high intensity. The intention was to make sure I was taking the bits in between at an appropriately low intensity. Besides the fact that my legs were feeling a bit flat, I had another reason for trying to take a deliberate step back in intensity. Running has been going really well recently, but I am mindful of falling into the trap of forcing or chasing that improvement. It is a bit of a fine line. I kind of pride myself on always trying to push, always striving for improvements. However, sometimes you get to a point where you realise that you are going out chasing the clock, working to run faster than the run you did a couple of days before. If I had done that today, I probably would have gone out and run flat out for an hour. That would have been a really tough run and it probably would have been faster than the run I did on Tuesday. But it wouldn't have been the run on my program and it also would have missed the point. So this morning I took a little bit of a step back. I made sure the intense bits were intense, but I also made sure the easy bits were easier (just not to easy).

As it was the run ended up being not too bad. I managed to stick with my intention of running easier on the easier bits, but the final pace was one that if I had done it three weeks ago, I would have been ecstatic. In itself I am counting that as a win, if I can consciously run easier and still run as quick as I did a few weeks ago, then for me that is a sign of progress.

Riding tonight. It is a session that I had planned to do on the trainer, but then I realised that I was going to have to ride home from work tonight. Might as well kill two birds with one stone.