It was only just a few months ago that I started focusing on quality workouts rather than just simply piling on the miles. When I started back up running after Callum was born, every single run felt so tough. I’d run hard enough to make breathing difficult, until my face was red and my clothes were drenched. I’d be pushing the stroller up the side of the mountain in the summer heat and I’d be so exhausted and sore but what I noticed is that I made a lot of progress in a short amount of time.

This was one of the first stroller runs we took together:

When I’d get the chance to score a run on my own, I’d have to get out and back before Callum needed to nurse so it seemed like it was always a speed work or tempo run day. I hated it back then but all of that hard running taught me how much I really can endure.

It reached 28 degrees today (82 F) but the only chance I had to run was while Callum slept and I had to use the treadmill in the heat of our garage in the hot stench of our always overflowing garbage cans. I decided to embrace this run the same way I embraced the runs in the early post-baby days and just push through until I almost crap my pants.

I alternated with one mile hard and one mile not as hard until I hit a total of 8 miles. The point of this workout is to push back the threshold at which I am able to run without hurting or being sick.

What does one mile hard feel like? It’s at a pace where I’m unable (or nearly unable) to grab my phone and check messages. It’s where I need a particular song or two to give me energy but it’s not so hard that my arms and legs flail or that I feel like throwing up or doing diarrhea. The not so hard mile feels like a chance to catch my breath but it takes a while for me to recover because I’m still going at a decent pace. I do this workout in a hot stinky garage, strengthening the mental muscles needed to conquer pretty much anything.

Family stress? Channel the hot garbage garage run. Marathon? Hot garbage garage run. Death in a family? Divorce? Diagnosis? Hot garbage garage run.

Proof:

Do you guys have the equivalent of a hot garbage garage run? If you’re not a runner, what is it in your life that strengthens the mental muscles needed to endure the tough stuff?

Reposted with Permission from Suzy Has the Runs