The mental challenge

  
With only four weeks left my body is ready to race. What is not ready is my mind. Yes, that became very apparent today. It’s no secret, I am not fast. But I like to attempt to run with fast people. Sure it pushes you. But today my dear friend Angie simply took pity on me. She’s fast, real fast. So I knew I was already holding her back. Being the good friend that she is, she constantly asked about my heart rate zone and pace. Not wanting to disappoint I blew myself up and made a huge mistake. Deep down I knew what pace I should have started at. Instead, I went out at a fast pace and blew up halfway threw. (To the point where I nearly puked). Can I blame Angie?  Absolutely not!  She would have run whatever pace I asked. But for some reason I had it in my head that I could run 45 minutes in zone 4 and I would be fine. This is a mental error which will probably bleed into the rest of this weeks workouts.  And what did I gain?  Well, I was actually slower than if I had stayed in my correct zone. The point being,your friends know who you are. They know what you are capable of. They run with you because they love you, not because you are slower or faster. In other words, don’t go mental!  Thank you Angie for keeping my head on straight.