Mental Endurance

First post with the Acer A500 i bought for $175.  Blogger app is similar to iOS version.

After my ass got handed to me 3 years ago at the half marathon over the Golden Gate Bridge, I got addicted to running.  After my injuries healed, i ran at lrast 3x a week!

I hate running when it's cold however, so i haven't been out for a run in quite some time - 4 months?  All my workouts have consisted of Insanity.

I finally went for a run today, but had a difficult time running more than 1 mile straight.  Physically i felt fine; wasn't grasping for air; no cramps but why couldn't I keep going?  During my peak running days, i could run 4 miles straight!  I feel more fit now since i can handle max Insanity. 

Max Insanity is a 60 minute workout but it focuses on going all out for 30 sec to 1 minute intervals.  I ran 8 minute miles today and when i see the mile marker, I just had to stop. 

While I can blame the interval nature of Insanity, there is a pure cardio workout that keeps you moving for 40 minutes straight.  So I know I can keep moving for more than 8 minutes.  However, the pure cardio workout makes you do a variety of workouts.  My inability to keep running after an 8 minute mile was basically boredom.

The same movement over and over, just keep running forward.  To change things up I would alternate the pace I ran - aka fartleks.

Still, despite my best efforts I couldn't be an energizer bunny.... keeps going, and going, and going.  I'm glad I ran about 4 miles, but it was frustrating that I had to keep taking breaks.  Lesson learned: confuse your body and do different excercises.  Insanity does have multiple excercise workouts, but they borrow the same move from each other. 

I got too used to the way Insanity trains my body physically.  Often you overlook the mental aspect of excercising.  Running or more accurately, jogging, takes a lot of mental endurance.  Now that it's getting warmer, I hope to mix it up  a bit more and not solely rely on Insanity.

Mental endurance - no matter how fit you are, without it you won't get far.