How bad do I want it?

BIKE: 75 mins and 22.25 miles, indoors morning
RUN: 72 mins and 7 miles, windy afternoon
COMMUTE 6 miles

The goal of the bike was 4x 3.1 mile intervals with increasing effort:
#1 and #2: 75% took 10 mins for ave of 18.6 mph
#3: 80% took 9:40 for ave of 19.2 mph
#4: 84% took 9:30 for ave of 19.6 mph

Now when I first saw those numbers I though I hadn't made much difference between the first and the last. It was disappointing. But when the average mph was calculated I was happier. 112 miles at 18.6 mph is a smidge over 6 hours, while 112 miles at 19.6 mph 5 hrs 42 mins. OK that's less than exciting, but 20 mins is still 20 mins!

After the ride, my enthusiasm for the run faded like a dropped rock. Maybe faded is the wrong word. I was cold and hungry, it was 34F outside, and so instead of running I ate a random brekkie standing at the computer. Not my goal! I decided to run later in the day when the temps were expected to be in the 60's.

I had a minimal lunch of a large pear and some canned oysters (WTF did I pack?!) at 2pm, and wondered what those oysters were going to do when I ran. So I waited until almost 4pm to run. It was almost 60F and windy! A strong blustery wind out of the south/southeast (bodes well for my commute home...) made the out portion of the run pleasant, but the in portion a bit frustrating.

The run started off bad, I was stiff, poorly fueled, and had a tight inner quad muscle. But I told myself to at least get warmed up before coming to any decisions about what to do. I'd already thrown out the plan of 3x 1 mile intervals, it just wasn't going to happen today. I decided on a steady 6 miler that stayed steady in spite of the wind. At one point I decided that if I did 7 I could have a treat piece of chocolate later :) with almond butter :). Hey whatever works.

On the way back, I started getting chilled from the wind and my enthusiasm started to wane again. I promised myself to run to a certain point, then if I still needed to I could walk. But I'd reach that point I'd picked and have no real urge to walk. Pick another point, run, repeat. I realized soon enough it was The Blerch who wanted to walk. Bastard. At 6 miles I was close to the end, I could cut short, but asked myself "How badly do you want this?" And I didn't mean the chocolate. How badly did I want to have a good marathon, a good MiTi, a good run today? Turns out I didn't want to stop. I didn't want to cut the run short, cut the corner near the science center, didn't want to walk the last hill into the parking area. I wanted this!

And so for that I get chocolate. Hey, what ever works!