Spa, running and brains!

OK, so for those people who have expressed a keen interest on what an XL Vest looks like.... this is it. It has the same zip pocket at the back so the weight can be evenly distributed. It's made of neoprene (wetsuit material), and the smell of it always makes me want to go surfing. :-) It's actually very comfortable...just hard work!

I joined the spa yesterday, and it was totally great to be back.
I managed to stay in the sauna for only 10 minutes before braving the plunge pool... I remember when we used to go there all the time and I would stay in there for 15 minutes, plunge and back in for 15 minutes! We also had a go in the granite steam room and lasted about 2 minutes. The steam room used to be my favourite place (which is surprising as I hate humidity). I'll get there though in time, I'm sure!
I also had a quick swimming burst of only 200 metres before my arms were aching like hell. I'm always rubbish when I go back to swimming after a long lay off, but I can swim a mile with quite little build up to it, so I'm sure this will improve too (although I'm a very slow swimmer). I love the pool at the Spa as they say it is like "bathing in Evian", and they're right... none of the stingy eyes you get with all that chlorine.

Today I got up to see my iThlete was on an amber day and warning me to take it easier. I've felt the startings of a cold (or possible hayfever) but felt fine after being up an hour, so decided to cut my 10 mile run down to 8, with the provisional decision that I'm NOT allowed to walk any of it. I seem to have got myself into this comfortable "If I hurt, I'll stop and walk... If my heart rate goes too high, I'll stop and walk... If I get too out of breath, I'll stop and walk" scenario, and today that is getting stopped, I told myself.

So, out I went, doing a few dynamic stretches before I left (anything to avoid the toxic 20 minutes I seem to get at the start of every run), and my XL vest felt no worse than a Camelbak. I ran the first 4 miles relatively comfortably, but the humidity today is high and although it was cloudy, I was overheating quite quickly. I could feel my face was bright red, and the last 4 miles is mostly on an incline so I knew it would be tough to keep going. The temperature was only 14 degrees, but it felt so much warmer. I'd rather run in hotter but drier weather, I think.
Going up the gentle incline at 4.5 miles I just kept saying to myself "Training is the hardest part, the race is easy". Now this is a new phenomenon for me. If things get tough in training, I'm too quick to bail out and take the easy option of walking with the thought process that "the race will have your adrenaline pumping and the atmosphere will get you round". I've read that statement countless times, and now I have to forget it. My new train of thought is that you train for the last 1/4 of the race... not the first 2/3rds.

So, everytime the going got tough, I told myself "Training is the hardest part, so the race is easy", and to my amazement, for the first time in a very long time (and the first time in the XL vest), I ran the whole way. I was shattered when I got home and really had given it my all. My legs feel knackered too.

I now have a lovely rest day tomorrow, as it's our anniversary and we are off to the spa for a nice afternoon chilling and having a lovely meal there.
I feel my brain has started to turn a corner today. I think convincing your brain to "come along with you for the ride" is probably the hardest part.