Jogging Log - Week Two
It’s getting close to the end of the second week, and I’ve already learned a whole lot; things about running, things about physical fitness, and most importantly, things about myself. It’s been really interesting seeing how my day-to-day mindframe affects my ability and drive to push myself. As I continue with this newly forming habit, I hope I keep discovering more and more about myself.
After the first week of success, I was really eager to keep up the intensity and succeed even further. However, I was a bit let down by myself after the first few days, as I noticed that my distance was leveling off at a rate that I thought was far too sharp, considering how much I’d been running. After consulting a friend of mine who is significantly further along in this process than I am (about 5 miles per jog), I learned that the extent to which I’d been working was probably what was holding me back. He advised me to take a day off after every run, in order to let my body repair itself. I knew that rest was necessary, but I didn’t expect to need a full day to recover after what I considered to be a rather short run (about one mile). I’ve decided, new knowledge in mind, to run only every other day.
An interesting psychological aspect that I noticed was that if I had something on my mind, or had a bad day, I ran a shorter distance than the day before. After running, though, I felt a lot better and less anxious, so the tradeoff is definitely worth it. However, on lazy days, when I slept in, loafed around, and did little physical activity, I performed remarkably well, considering that I expected to do poorly.
