Men

So Saturday 10/20/07 After work C-lo and I decided to turn a couple miles over @ reid park.
I felt stiff so we stretched and hit starting off slow til we warmed up.

Well we turned the first mile Fast, under 6minutes! After 10minutes we took a one minute walk break. My hip started to get tight and then my whole left side got stiff...Well we kept going and were approaching the end and our last walk break. We could have skipped it and finished in 20 minutes easy but we didnt. @ this point my whole left side locked out and became very painful and my leg and hip would no longer bend. Well we finished out strong anyway,

3 miles in 22minutes 38seconds71hundredths, 10 minutes run 1 minute walk( 2 one minute walk breaks).
averaged out to about 7minute30second miles.

Other then my left side from the hip down I felt awesome.


REFLECTION- During our run, toward the end, c-lo and I had a brief conversation about ego.
He mentioned we could stop if I hurt, I said no way, he mentioned stubborness and the male ego.
I felt it was just me accepting all the hard training I've put in to this running/life thing and understanding it is painful.
C-lo has never ran over 6 miles @ one time so its a tough call.


So on the drive home I began to think-
From a very early age I was taught that a man works through pain and adversity.
Anything worth doing was earned and anything really good was never easy and was usually painful. Also a real man wasnt afraid or ashamed to admit he hurt but didnt let it stop him and didnt let it rule him and certainly didnt complain about it. Simply acknowledge it as another part of the process of working through to get to your end goal.

I was conditioned @ an early age to be tough.

Well the problem I run into is when is enough enough. As I've grown up I met climbers who taught me I had to listen to my body. I get overuse and over training injuries because I push very hard.
My climbing buddies taught me to back off and relax. I've torn tendons in both hands torn the major muscle group that runs from my back/shoulder up into my neck all from climbing. All from thinking I had to push and push to be really great @ something.

So the question is am I repeating the same mistakes over and over? Am I doing it again with running? Was I essentially taught wrong as a child or did I just interperete the lessons differently?

I was told sure signs of overtraining are a decrease in performance, being tired, feeeling sick.

I'm not, I have been getting faster.

What will it hurt if I take a break? I dont feel fufilled if I dont excercise @ least 5 or six days a week for @ least an hour plus a day. For me its part of my routine kinda like eating or showering.

I think I'll switch back to Yoga and perhaps ride my bike for a few days.

Nothing does it like running except maybe climbing. Tough to climb in the middle of the night!
These things have a way of working themselves out. On my last long run my hip felt bad toward the end...