Reining In

The other day my wife and I went running together outside. We don't do it that often, mostly because of our schedules, but also because we run so differently. We have different paces that we like and I have a hard time slowing down sometimes to her level.

Not that I'm a lot faster, just that I like to run at a quicker pace for exercise. She's quicker in the sprint for sure!

In any case, we had a nice jog, me holding back to her pace for the most part, but I asked her on the way back if she wanted a quick segment. She was the one that told me a quick minute or two during the working really pays dividends, and I'd been doing that on the treadmill. She wanted to, so we decided to go from our mailbox to the first loafing shed on the right, likely a good minute run and about 1/8 of a mile.

We got to the mailbox and took off, her ahead of me at a good pace, but only slightly as I was trying to build my steady 8-8.5mph stride. We got about halfway there, about 30 sec in and she pulled back to a jog saying she wasn't ready for that. I kept going, counting the minute in my head and making the loafing shed and then jogging slowly back until she caught me and then we continued home.

I was worried she was hurt, and she said that she felt she almost was. Her legs weren't ready for the pounding yet and she needed a few more weeks to build a good base. I felt fine, but the next day felt a little more sore than normal. Granted we might have run close to 2 miles, and I wasn't at all winded, but I was still worried about the effects for the next few days. After all, I'm in this for a year, not for a few weeks.

In the past I've struggled to run at reasonable paces for a long time. As I get stronger, I want to push myself more, but I've also broken down my body quite a bit and often had to pull back from running for a few weeks here and there. I'm trying not to do that this time, going slow and really limiting runs to 1.5-2 miles and even less if I can.

It's easy to get over confident, something we humans seem to do. We get confident, sometimes overconfident and push things too far. I know I've done it before and seen others do it as well, not just in running, but almost anything people try.

A heart rate monitor might help, and perhaps that would keep me from overdoing it too early in the process. It's been a few weeks and the legs feel strong, I just realize now that I need to rein myself on and prevent injury.