Intuitive Running

I have been having the best time on my runs this week! The last three runs have all been between six and eight miles, the last one on Monday was at a 12:21 pace, and none of it has been stressful!  I think it has everything to do with listening to my body and doing what it tells me it wants to do.

Let me 'splain...

You see, if I had set out to run six or eight miles, then I would have started out thinking about all the miles ahead of me, instead of just enjoying the run for what it was.  Since I had only planned for an easy 3-miler, there was no stress on me to do more.  I just started running, working my program, like I always do .  But as I got into the groove, it just felt right to keep running after my program ended, so I just rebooted my music *if you have never tried the Rock My Run app, go do it now....you can thank me later* and just kept on running.

What unfolded was a beautiful, incredibly fulfilling experience.


Did I break world speed records? Hardly. No distance records, either.  What I did do was to push my body a little faster and farther than it *thought* it was able to go.  And that, my friends, makes for progress on so many levels.

Monday was simply a great run, the weather was hot, but the path was shady, and I will never complain about the heat as long as it's not beating down on me.  Saturday was a wee bit different.  There was a big celebration in town to open the second and final stretch of the Tweetsie Trail, which I had no idea was even close to being completed.  That makes the entire stretch from Johnson City to the far side of Elizabethton just a bit shy of 10 miles...perfect for training for pretty much any running or cycling event.  Most of the original stretch between JC and Betsytown is a pretty steep grade, so it's great for hill work and endurance training.  But the new stretch is very level (albeit lacking substantially in shade), perfect for speed work.

I wound up not being able to run on Saturday until early afternoon...the worst possible time, actually.  But I really wanted to run the new section, so I opted for starting on the far end and running back toward the center of town.  I wasn't sure at that time just how far that would wind up being, but my goal was to run until I hit what I'd run before...that way, I could say I've run the entire trail, even if it's been in segments.

It was hot. Really, really hot.  And I had neither eaten properly, nor hydrated properly that day before my run.  That's not usually my style, but with Keith gone, my head was on a million other things that day, and I simply kept getting sidetracked. (Side note...it's amazing how little food occupies my thoughts these days.  It wasn't so long ago that it dominated every waking moment. That's a HUGE NSV for me.)  Needless to say, after the first mile, my body started screaming at me to slow down.  I listened, of course...it was either that, or pass out.  But it really hurt to do that, because I was making some serious tracks on my pace.  That's ok...I still enjoyed the run (and the walk back), added a cool new statistic to my list, upped my calorie burn enough to score a taco salad for dinner, and doubled my mileage over what I'd planned to do. That would be a win/win/win/win sitch, right there.

Monday, I had a pumpkin spice latte on my brain all day...tis the season, after all.  But PSL's are mighty calorie-heavy, so even though I only 'needed' to do a 3-miler that day, I knew if I pushed myself, I could earn that PSL, plus some.  So, since I worked all day, I started on the JC end of the trail, and wound up running all the way to Elizabethton (about 4 1/2 miles) at a 12:21 pace, and walking back to my car.  I was thrilled with that....and very happily slurped my well-deserved PSL all the way home.

Tonight is a run night, too.  Wonder how far my body will want me to run tonight...?


How about you?  Ever tried intuitive running?  How do you psych yourself up for a long run?