First week over - starting the second week

So the first week is down - 22 to go. Frankly, not a bad week. In fact, my mileage was reduced from what I was previously putting in with the exception of Sunday's long run (10 miles). Monday was a day of cross training, as will be every Monday, Tuesday was an easy 3 miles, Wednesday 5, Thursday another easy 3, Friday a rest day (not used to this!), Saturday 6 and Sunday 10. 21 miles versus the 30 or so that I was doing previously.

The rest days are the most welcomed. I was not allowing for any rest days before I began the program and now there are really two (the Monday cross training day is supposed to be an easy day). Yes, it is really difficult MENTALLY to take a day off and go easy on another day. But physically, it is obvious that my body needed the break. Yes, I still groan when I get up and struggle to get my legs going in the morning. I wonder if this pain will ever go away.

The Sunday 10 miler was both good and bad. The weather was in the low 60s with a moderate wind that hit me head-on for about half of the run. Not really bad but definitely a feeling of struggling against it until I changed my stride and body mechanics. And yes, I was tired after the run. BUT, what a great mental feeling to have finished strong. I read that 90% of running is mental and the other 10% is in your head and have to agree - there were moments that my body asked my brain why we were doing this. I'm happy to say that the mind won. And for me, that's a new phenomena. Of course, the full race is over 1 1/2 times the run on Sunday so we'll see how strong the mind really is.

Today, Wednesday is a 5 miler again. Yesterday's 3 miles at 5am wasn't the best - damp and painful to begin but strong at the end. Not fast (9 minutes per mile) but complete. Today will be a test to see when, during the day, I feel and perform better - morning or mid-afternoon.