Ahhhh….Sunday. Lately D and I have been taking it easy on the weekends, which means that besides me teaching two yoga classes and both of us working out, we haven’t been doing much else. I’m really enjoying my slow, sweet August – September is going to be a different story!

So since RIT (the “Runner in Training”) improved her time last time we went running (which was Friday), we changed  from one minute run / one minute walk to TWO minutes run / one minute walk. So here’s what we did today:

• walk 4 minutes
• run 2 minutes / walk 1 minute for 21 minutes
• walk 2 minutes

RIT did AWESOME! Here’s what I’m learning from our runs:

1. Taking it “easy” when you start running is the way to go. While tempting as it may be to just go out and run as far as you can, it’s far better to pace yourself so that you are injury free and actually liking what you are doing. Finish your first runs feeling like you could have done more. 
2. We want to see progress. Always. So better to start slow and jog short distances so that you can enjoy seeing yourself progress.
3. For some reason our brains tend to freak out when we start running. Probably because the breath becomes labored? It’s essential to breathe calmly. To do this just slow down and focus on deep, extended breathing.
4. When you want to stop running and walk, ask yourself “do I really need to do?” Most likely, if you’ve been gradually building up your endurance,  your breathing is fine and your body is fine. You can go a little further. When I really think about it, I stop mostly when I’m feeling bored. I can almost always go further than I think I can.

Interestingly, all of these observations are about what happens in the mind!