Long Run

Today was a long run - well long for me, one hour. My goal is to increase this gradually to 90 min. Much more than that and training takes over my life rather than enhancing it. My goal for this run, and all my long runs for at least a month, was to keep the old heart rate in the aerobic zone. This, unfortunately, can be an exercise in frustration. I end up having to go back to my shuffling days for most of the run - especially for the uphills which I usually end up walking part of. This is a major assault on my pride. Cars pass, I cringe - I want to holler "I can run faster than this, its this pesky heart rate thing!" This is another element of training for the tri: accepting my limitations. Accepting that I'm not fast, that my fitness is not as excellent as I imagined it to be, that I have to stop a lot when I swim, that my thighs burn on the hills when I bike. These are the things I'm working to improve, but it won't happen overnight. Accepting the journey, accepting that its going to be a slow one, accepting that it will take me somewhere but that the destination is really not up to me. I'm only along for the ride.