Compulsion

I've been doing bizarrely well these past few days, I suppose.  It's still uncomfortable to eat as much as I usually do, I've totally quit the daily double, and I've gotten into a bad sleep pattern: I fall asleep in front of the TV for an hour or so in the evening, and then I sleep about five hours that night.  However, the early morning runs have sunk in deeply.

I have been craving flatness for ever so long.  Apart from vacations, I haven't had a route that hasn't gone over 0.25 miles and a 5% grade since late 2011.  Hills are good, they toughen one up, etc, etc, but when the only way of avoiding them is a treadmill in a usually warm room, something goes missing, and I had forgotten what.

Why has it taken me this long to realize just how amazing and flat my new route is?  I suppose I had to wake up early to reap its advantages.  After a certain hour, it gets sunny, hot, and busy.  The speed limit near the end goes up to 55 mph--the shoulders are wide, but that doesn't help the noise.

However, early in the morning, it is cool and refreshing, it slopes gently downward for the first couple of miles, and the road is quiet and smooth.  There are some houses on it, tucked behind the trees, and some paddocks and trails, and part of it goes by the base...mainly, it's surrounded by pines.  Even on the shoulder, I don't have to watch my feet much; I can unpin my mind and just coast.  My favourite type of run!  I've taken it easier these past two days, just six easy miles each day, but I can lengthen this.  There are some steeper hills ahead, but not until past another 1.5 miles, I think.  That leaves me plenty of space in which to drift.

I've been really craving that!  This is how it used to be!  This is how and why I used to run about 50 miles/week.  It was easy.

I'll still run the hilly routes, and I'll still jog on the treadmill to watch lectures, but having a relatively flat route and a cool breeze---especially during a stretch of weather with highs above 30C--is bliss.  Can't pat myself on the back for getting up and out early, nope.  Worth it.

So, my goal this week is to do some hills, and weights, and get back into the daily double.  Perhaps I'll have to start back down at 20 pushups and situps.  Oh, well, setbacks happen.