Monday, July 27, 2009

Did my 5-mile route this morning. My leg muscles were definitely still fatigued from Saturday's run, but not sore. I actually beat my best time for this run, making it under 46 minutes for the first time.

I was trying to practice mindfulness during the run this morning. I'm trying to be more mindful in my daily life in general, and running is great place to practice because it's a time when I would usually get lost in thought or worry. In particular I was focusing on sound as I ran -- my feet on the ground, the wind rushing past my ears, and the sounds of my breaths, passing cars, birds, and other things. When I noticed that my mind had wandered, I tried to bring it back to focusing on sounds.
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2 comments:

Alissa said...

Reading about your running got me inspired to get back out there, today. I only did 2 miles, but I haven't used running as a way to exercise in a loooong time so I figured it was a good place to start. So, I have 2 questions for you...

1. When you've gone running early in the morning, do you eat breakfast before or after your run?

2. Any recommendations for running shoes? Currently I have Ryka cross trainers because I also play tennis in them, but I need to replace them soon.

July 27, 2009 at 1:22 PM
Amanda said...

Hey Alissa,

That's awesome to hear you ran! Two miles is a great distance when you're just getting back into running!

I don't eat breakfast before my mid-week 5-milers, only before my long Saturday runs. Some people might say that I should always eat first, but I just can't make myself eat at 5:15am. I do get up early enough for coffee and a little food before my long Saturday runs, because it would be bad to run out of fuel on a long run (you're supposed to re-fuel every hour or so when running distance) and also because I can't wait until I've been up for 3 hours before having caffeine :-). I would suggest experimenting for yourself and seeing whether your run feels better or worse if you have a piece of toast or a glass of orange juice beforehand.

As for shoes, I would recommend you find a good running store in New Haven and have them fit you with shoes. A good store will have staff who can watch your stride and find appropriate shoes for you. They should let you try on 5-10 pairs and most will let you go out to the sidewalk and run up and down the block. If several pairs are comfortable, I've always been told to pick the ones that feel most like part of my foot (rather than like a thing my foot is wearing).

Let me know how it goes!

July 28, 2009 at 7:05 PM

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