Have whipped cream, will run fast!

Since I was a little kid, I have always used rewards to make myself do things that I either did not feel like doing, or that were hard. I transitioned from studying extra hard at anatomy in 7th grade because of my hot teacher, to more higher level rewards like feeling good about myself, etc, etc during the highschool years.

This summer I started rewarding myself with frappuccinos and sodas after long runs and bike rides (yes, it seems like I have been regressing but sometimes long term reinforcers or intrinsic reinforcers just don't do it!). They worked like a charm. Today, I raised the bar and rewarded myself with the mother of all rewards, pure sweetness and saturated fat combo - the whipped cream! I had to!

My Ana-Maria/Hudson plan called for 20 miles with 2 easy, 15@ MP, 3 easy. I felt rusty and unmotivated. My breathing was hard during the warm up and the first MP miles. I had several negative thoughts creeping in, mainly worries about how tough the MP felt. I worked through them and told myself that the point of the run was to suffer, and if I did, I'll get my frappuccino. Somehow after mile 3 my run got easier (I need to remind myself of this!) and I picked up the pace. I felt great, strong and confident. I decided to finish the run at MP-10 (I did a 13 miler with 10 at this pace on Monday), mainly because I wanted more pain than I was feeling, I wanted to simulate a bit what I am going to feel during the last 6 miles of the marathon (hopefully not sooner). I picked up the pace, and it was hard. I wanted to slow down. So I told myself that I can have whipped cream on the frappuccino if I manage to bring the average pace down to MP-10. So I pushed, I held on to my focus, and I managed to get the average pace down to MP-10, with last mile close to 10K pace (and only one less than 1 min bathroom stop). I finished the 15 miles tired, but not exhausted as I did not let myself go all out. I knew I had 3 more miles to run. Mentally, these miles were tough to do. Typically I end my runs with hard miles, so my brain was basically done after the 2+15 tough miles. But I pulled it together and ran the 3 miles easy but not super slow, and found myself at the Starbucks asking for my treat. And it was awesome. And honestly, I am not feeling half as trashed as I was last week. In fact, I did not get a chance to nap as we had a block party (where I even managed to play badminton and along with K kicked Chris's and her husband's a$$es), so I have been on since early this am. And I am still riding this run! Now I wonder what my reward should be next week, for my 23 miler with 20 at MP? A venti 1/2 frappuccino 1/2 whip might do the trick! Or maybe just full whippped cream venti. Hey, whatever works!