Hypothetical Construction

Sometimes, you just have to kick a little ass.

When you’re looking forward to something, it becomes difficult to focus on pretty much anything else. If, hypothetically, you’ve got an upcoming trip to visit with a number of very good friends that you never get to see, then keeping your mind tasked on your work can become exceptionally difficult. And then, theoretically, if you got some disappointing news in the middle of the day, overslept in the morning, and still had a run to do, accomplishing anything might just become impossible.

In such a random situation, which no one has probably ever had to face, you have to take charge and get something done. Your best choice is probably to go for a nice, hard run.

And who cares if the weather outside happens to be a little intense? Let’s make this impossible scenario a little more ridiculous, and say that you’re in a location that is known for one kind of extreme weather, but that it’s crazier than normal. Record-setting crazy. How about, oh, I don’t know, heat? Say it’s crazy hot in the middle of the afternoon, but that you’re not going to have time to run in the evening and you really don’t want to run on the treadmill because, well, it’s boring.

What you’ll probably want to do is dress for the crazy weather, which in a heat situation means to dress as little as possible. You’re not going to want to do a very long workout in this situation, since your adrenaline and frustration will be spent fairly quickly, but something around, say, 4 miles could be just about perfect.

Now, the key to doing this well is to keep your perspective while running. You don’t want to go out to quickly and burn out, since this would only exacerbate your frustration. The adrenaline will carry you, so all you really have to do is keep yourself moving forward. The world around you will take care of the rest. Don’t check your watch, and don’t worry about how fast you’re going.

As you’re nearing the finish, make sure that you’ve got a little fire left in the tank, and then spend it. Really give yourself a push in that last half-mile or so, and sweat out all the nonsense from the day. While you don’t want to collapse at your finish line, you also don’t want to feel like you underperformed. Give is just as much as you want, and feel your mind freeing as the wind (should there be any) whips past you.

When you stop the watch, try to not choke in shock at the time that you’ve run. Recognize what you’ve done, for example, maybe you’ve just completed your fastest outdoor training run of the season with almost no physical discomfort. Or something like that. Take that good feeling, shower off, and get back to work.

Hypothetically.

Tuesday’s Run:

94 Degrees / Sunny

4.08 Miles

25 Minutes, 51 Seconds