Sunday 8 January 2012

Mind over matter

The evening after my loooong run I felt like I had been run over by a herd of stampeding elephants. My body was not so much aching; it was going on a strike against its employer (me). Making any movements took will power, walking took miracles. But once I got over the threshold of rearranging my body parts, the stiffness was gone and my body did as it was told without protest.

Still, I wondered how it would feel the following day. Aches and strained muscles usually feel worse the day after hard training. And if my body was so stiff now, how bad would it be a day later? I feared the worst. I imagined myself paralysed, unable to even speak, having to get nutrition through a tube. I needn't have worried. The next day, my body's stiffness was pretty much gone and I was able to go climbing and conquer new routes.

This morning was a different issue. I had spent ten hours in bed, but how many of them I actually spent sleeping I cannot say. I remember one of our cats sprinting through the flat several times during the early hours and then jumping on the bed, waking me. I remember the other one purring in my ear. I remember wanting to strangle them. I remember my throat feeling irritated again and the struggle between the part of me that wanted to get up and drink some water, and the part that didn't want to leave the warmth of the bed. And I remember floating in a half dream, not sleeping but not really awake either. For what was probably several hours.

When I finally got up at the late hour of 8 o'clock and looked at myself in the mirror, I looked like death warmed over. I was supposed to meet some complete strangers for a social run later on, but I doubted I could even drive the car there. As my morning cup of coffee made its way to my veins, so did life, and things started looking a bit rosier. I thought about my plans for the day and had to rearrange them a bit, because I didn't think my legs would carry me up any hills today. And besides, I had some errands to run. So instead of meeting these strangers and sabotaging their run, I headed out on a solo run of 11 km. It was tough at first, but my legs soon got the idea and found some hidden reserves to pull a couple of 5.05 min/km kilometres.

I can crack the whip if I have to. Show 'em legs who's the boss.

2 comments:

  1. Helt rätt! Show them who's the boss!
    Själv hade jag en lång och trög start idag och kan inte skylla på 30 km... Jag var helt enkelt seg i starten, men väldigt nöjd med resultatet.
    Det är en sån skön känsla att utmana och träna just pannben! (det kan ju inte alltid vara kul och lätt)

    ReplyDelete
  2. sv: Anders Szalkai - marathon programmet. Jag hoppas jag klarar det på 4.30 eller snabbare. Drömmen vore ju under 4 timmar, men jag har ju aldrig sprungit så långt förr. Mina tidigare race var på en mil. Fast.. Jag har sprungit 2.5 mil första passet en gång. (Efter mycket lång vila). Jag sprang fel och hade aerobic skor. Klarar jag det klarar jag allt brukar jag säga. Det var vidrigt! Utan vätska och vilse.. :D
    Och jag springer omvägar för att få ihop mina km, bara det tär lite på psyket haha.

    ReplyDelete