Speedwork Suffering

Yesterday, Coach made me do speedwork.  Well, actually, Coach made me do speedwork on Tuesday, I just didn’t do it.  I’m a rebel.

And it hurt.  Oh, it hurt.  Only 8 800 repeats, but it was still completely not awesome.  That said, if I think back to where I was just a few months back, I wouldn’t have been able to even consider completing the workout at the pace I kept.  So clearly, the speedwork is working.  Doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it though.

When I’m doing long, hard workouts, I always find myself bargaining with myself or trying to use math to convince myself that it’s not that bad.

“Distance wise, I’m halfway through the workout!”

“Only 4 repeats to go. I can do this.”

“You went out to lunch today, you need this calorie burn.”  (Which was true, plus I also ate half a donut.  I do not think the speedwork negated either of these things.)

While training, I’m never actually thinking about the real reason I’m training – to improve for races.  (Well, and to improve my general health.  And to burn off rogue donuts that find their way into my belly.) Considering I can see my triathlon medals out of the corner of my eye the entire time I’m on the treadmill, you would think this would cross my mind.  But nope, I’m just living in the moment of pain and suffering.

But at the end of the workout, I’m proud of myself for getting it done.  Maybe I even brag about it by writing a blog post.

Non-runner coworkers ask me how I get the training done or where I find my motivation.  I can’t always answer them.  I just do it and check it off the list and move on to the next thing.  You may not always want to do the workouts, but it’s worth it in the end.  Maybe not right afterwards, but the work pays off eventually.