Photo by Rick Smith
I was a little concerned about today's group run. I had that serious twinge the other day on the treadmill in my right knee and up to my right hip — IT band area. It was supposed to rain according to the last weather report I saw and I really wasn't looking forward to that. And, still, the idea itself of running outside for 50 minutes had me anxious.
I don't really get the anxiety about running outside or that I'd be running in public. I've been exercising regularly for more than 3 years at my gym, usually doing much more than 50 minutes of activity a day and doing it surrounded by other people. Why is changing the venue such a source of anxiety?
I do remember being very anxious when I first started at the gym. I was much heavier then and was kind of forced into it because the exercise machine I had at home kept breaking down. I remember feeling terribly out of place and getting The Look a lot. What's The Look? It's that expression I always got from people when they saw me back then — if they thought they might have to sit next to the fat guy on the bus, or get on an elevator with the fat guy, or were sitting near the fat guy in a restaurant, or seeing a fat guy wheezing and sweating as he barely moved on an elliptical machine. Sometimes The Look was involuntary — their instant reaction of disgust making it onto their face. Sometimes it was very directed, as if they were questioning what right I had to be in whatever place they thought I didn't belong. When I was 400+ lbs., I got The Look a lot. I didn't want to face that at the gym, but didn't have much choice so I went and dealt with it.
It's been a long time since I've gotten The Look, but I guess the anxiety about being judged as the fat guy doing something I "shouldn't" is still there, even if I'm not the fat guy any longer and even if everyone I've met at the Team in Training events have been incredibly welcoming. Yes, I have my issues.
Anyway, I talked to one of the coaches before the run about my IT band and how to deal with it — ice, stretching, rest... stuff I was already doing. I also made sure to get to the park early enough that I could do a good long warmup walk before the run, about 20 minutes or so. Once the run got started, I took it slow for the first few minutes just to make sure everything was working.
It was, I had no pain to speak of, so I opened it up a little bit and started to push my pace. I settled into a comfortable stride and checked my pace. Under 10 minutes! I was able to keep that going and even shave a little off over the course of the whole 50 minutes. I kept my focus on my foot placement, keeping my chest up and back, keeping my breathing even and keeping my cadence up around the 90+ stride a minute pace. There's a lot of stuff to pay attention to.
I had no pain issues... until the very last couple minutes. I think I eased up too much and got sloppy with my form. Sure enough, my right knee flared up and I had to limp in. Ugh. More ice packs for me.
On the good side, it didn't rain. In fact, it was just about perfect if not a bit cold.
Run Stats: 49:58 min. | 5.05 miles | 9:54/mile average pace
Splits: Mile 1: 10:36 | Mile 2: 10:02 | Mile 3: 9:42 | Mile 4: 9:36 | Mile 5: 9:21
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