So this morning I went to do my interval run. 30 minutes including about a 3 minute warm up and a 3 minute cool down with alternating minutes running and walking. I got through about half of it before my calves just said no more. Now typically I have to fight but if I cut back on one or two of the running sets then I can finish. Today I just couldn't continue. It's not that I've been over doing it lately. I'm only running 3 days a week. And I'm doing some light body weight exercises on Tuesday and Thursday but nothing that would tire out my legs. So I don't know what was up this morning.
Now I'm completely willing to admit that it may have just been a brain thing. As in I psyched myself out of finishing. But I'm considering that it might not have been. For starters I've gotten pretty good at fighting back the "I don't want to do this" voice. So I asked around and did some research and I got back a couple of options.
Option #1: Don't let the treadmill set my intervals. Set them my self manually based on how my body feels. Listening to your body is always important. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to people saying "It doesn't hurt. Work through it." and cringed. But my fear with this is that I won't push myself hard enough. The treadmill program just runs and I go with it. If I'm running things then I'm likely to take much shorter running sets and longer walking sets. (Like longer than I need.)
Option #2: Just scale back. Don't worry about how well you're doing on a particular day just as long as you keep moving. This one is basically an variation on Option #1 but instead of changing my normal run just do it as long as I can and when I have to stop just stop and walk. Actually this is what I did this morning. I stopped running and did a moderate walk.
Photo Credit: ian_ransley
Option #3: You may not be getting enough potassium. Now this one I actually know is true. And while I'm certain that I'm getting more than I have been. I know I'm not getting nearly enough as I need. According to WebMd (and a number of other sources) the average adult needs 4700 mg of potassium daily. Based on my latest estimation I'm getting less than 2000 mg daily. So the suggestion is to boost my potassium. Well almost everyone I talk to says eat a couple of bananas. Sadly, much like Zira, I loathe bananas.
Now there are other high potassium foods out there but I'm toying with the idea of taking a potassium gluconate supplement. I've heard everything from yes to no. But considering the size of my deficiency I doubt that 99 mg of potassium daily is going to cause serious side effects. Quite frankly I'm going to use tonight to think and pray about that decision because taking any supplement is risky. I've already bought a bottle but I haven't opened it yet so I can still return it to the store.
Option #4: This one is mine. I might need to adjust my training plan. If I change my goal from distance to time I might be able to condition myself more. This would mean switching from trying to get as far as I can in 30 minutes to trying to do 3 miles as fast as I can. The plus here is that I'd be working at a slower overall pace so I'd give my legs more time to catch up to my heart & lungs. The minus is it's going to take a lot longer to complete three miles and I'm not sure that I've got that much time for my morning work out.
I haven't decided what I'm going to do. I don't run again until Friday so I've got some time to decide. I'll let you know when I do.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment