The Devil Came Down to Winchester.....

We all have these types of internal struggles - or at least I hope it's not just me. You have a great morning training session, and afterwards, are excited about what you need to do for your second session later in the day. For me, that's after work - a long time after that first workout, which means many opportunities can appear to nix that evening workout. The day goes on. It gets hot and muggy out. I didn't eat enough. I'm a little stressed about work. And then the killer happens. SheDevil shows up.

I hate SheDevil - she can be incredibly convincing, but she is Bad News and needs to be kept at bay. But here she was, showing up around 5pm, planting some seeds of doubt: "You know you aren't REALLY going to do that track workout tonight Michelle. It's way too hot and sticky out, and you haven't eaten enough today. You'll be miserable." SheDevil has a point. It IS hot and sticky out, which means that a painful track workout is going to be made even more painful. And I HAVEN'T eaten enough, so I'll probably bonk. Hmmmmm. Maybe SheDevil is right?

And so it goes for the last hour of the day, before I head home and have to make the decision about what to change into: running clothes, or comfy hang-out clothes.

To my surprise I was able to ignore SheDevil and put on the running clothes as soon as I got home. I convinced her that I'd do a FEW repeats (7x800 at anaerobic plus pace - I was shooting for 3:31's, which would hurt, and hurt badly), see how I feel, and if I were TRULY miserable after 3, I'd throw in the towel. I grab my iPod and head out the door, to soon discover that the iPod battery is dead. "See," said SheDevil, "your iPod isn't even charged. You are not meant to do this run today." But I ignore her again and throw the iPod back in the house and head around the corner to the local high school track where I do my interval work. While I usually run with music, I figured I could entertain myself easily enough during the intervals - focus on my form, my breathing pattern, on not puking. That kinda thing. I do a few warm up laps around the track, and feel SheDevil's pull: "It is so hot and gross out - you are already soaked with sweat, just after an easy warm-up! This is going to kill you. And you know if you don't hit your intervals, you'll be upset. So why bother trying?"

Interval #1 starts. I check my split after the first 400 and find that I'm being a bit too aggressive: 1:40. While I feel good, I remind myself I have 7 of these and I can't blow up after 4. "But I thought we were only doing 3-4 anyway?" SheDevil chimes in. I finish the first interval in 3:25. Ooops - a little too fast, but I'm feeling good! Let's just slow the next one down a tad and see how it goes. Only 6 left!!!!!!! The next interval went just as well, and I dialed it back to a ..... 3:26. Come on, no blowing up here - slow it down! But the speed on such a yucky day (it really WAS hot and humid, and I really WAY underfueled and a bit hungry) gave me some confidence - I was going to finish this workout. Not just finish it, but KILL it!!!!!!

But SheDevil was persistent, continually looking for a chink in the armour: "Look at those dark clouds over there - it is going to start to storm soon!" "Did you feel that little pulling feeling in your hamstring? You don't want to pull a muscle before the race this weekend. Let's call it a day after this one - whaddayousay?" "But I LOVE running in the train, and running in the rain while doing tough intervals on the track, an already badass workout, would be doubly badass! BRING ON THE RAIN!!!!!" "No, no, I really didn't feel anything funny in my hamstring - I'm settling in nicely. I think it's time for you to just Shut. The. Hell. Up."

With each interval, the Devil was driven back, back, back. I ended up finishing all 7 intervals and nailing the workout - totally crushing my original goal split time and holding all of them sub-3:30's, finishing with my strongest at 3:24. "Just call me The Hammer because I just NAILED that workout!!!!!!!" That thought made SheDevil recoil in horror. It was the stupidest thing she's ever heard, and she wasn't going to stick around for the ridiculous giggling that she knew was coming as I ran home. The Hammer. Does that even make sense? I didn't care - at the time I thought it was freaking hilarious, and I laughed to myself all the way home. I'd blame oxygen deprivation, except I'm STILL laughing to myself about it...... I am SUCH a dork.

Jogging home, with a huge smile on my face, I realized there was likely a good life lesson in this to convey to the kids. When the going gets tough, the tough get going, or some such drivel. But all I came up with was my usual "Wanna hug?" when I walked in the door. This is a running joke in the family - I come in all smelly and sweaty and gross, and sincerely ask for a big hug. Which of course sends them running and screaming away in disgust. Good times.

Tonight's victory over SheDevil would just have to remain my little secret. 

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I realize I haven't blogged in ..... forever. An embarrassingly long time, in fact. But during this little battle with SheDevil last night, I realized that I really missed it, so I'm back!!!!! I hope you enjoy reading about my ramblings, and that you don't call the looney bin to have them pick me up. I don't think I'm ACTUALLY crazy, although with all the internal dialog I have in my head during my workouts, it might not be a totally ridiculous notion.