Saturday, February 25, 2006
POUNDING MY FLESH - Running and Training Update - February 25, 2006
Sorry for the lack of update last week - I was in crunch time getting my production of The House of Bernarda Alba up and running. The show opened this week, and is being received VERY well by audiences.
So, back to Pounding The Flesh. The best thing I can say about last week was that in spite of the long technical rehearsals, I managed to fit all of my training runs in, including a five-mile run outside on Saturday morning before our all-day technical rehearsal. That made a total of fifteen miles for the week.
The bad news is that I messed up a tendon slightly on my run this past Tuesday, and so I was a bit lighter on the miles this week. My first thought was that it was a stress fracture, but after running five miles on it today, I'm happy to report that it was just a bruised tendon that's on the mend.
So, on to our totals:
February 2006: 38.2 miles
Average Pace/Mile: 10:37
2006 Total Thus Far: 90.3 miles
Average Pace/Mile: 10:53
I've discovered a way to get "in the zone" on the treadmill - something that I've always found a bit challenging. It's always more engaging to run outside, and to change up training courses, if for no other reason than the view is constantly changing. It rarely does that on a treadmill.
Good music is essential. I can lose myself quite easily in great music, matching the tempo of the song to the strike of my foot against the treadmill belt. But there's always that issue of constantly looking down at the time and mileage, and not being as far along as one might hope, either in terms of time or mileage.
Look up from your computer screen for a moment, and try to take on a soft focus. Not staring at anything in particular, but just looking again. A magnificent instructor of the Alexander Technique I once had called this "being prepared for nothing, yet ready for anything."
Now choose a stationary point in front of you - something that isn't going to move. Once you've picked that spot, try to pay attention to something else that's in the periphery of your view. Keep your eyes on the object you've chosen os your "focus," but pay attention to the object in the periphery.
This method, in combination with great music, has kept my mind off of the mindlessness of running on a treadmill, and allows my mind to use the time to think about other things, or to simply let my mind wander a bit while I'm running. Relaxing the mental a bit while working the physical. It's good stuff - try it!
Tags: running, marathon, marathon training
Posted by FleshPresser at 5:44 PM /
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