I had great hopes of bringing you
all along today using my GoPro while my family and I spent most of the
afternoon at a beautiful beach off Lake
Ontario
What an incredibly long week of training! I find it mildly amusing that
a week ago I thought that I was in very good running shape. Throw in a little
more volume and training specific workouts into the mix and wham; you get
snapped back into reality. I've got a very long way to go.
That being said, I've done enough distance training to realize that for
as tough as this week was and the coming workouts will be; it'll pay off come
race day. I started off the week very energized and excited. I almost made the
mistake of getting carried away a little too much and almost overextended
myself. This year instead of throwing myself headfirst into the training
accepting nothing but the hardest workouts and best performances I've decided
to ease back a little. I've got another 15 weeks to get to the level that I
feel like I want to be. So, this year I'm going to slowly get into the training
schedule. If there's one thing that last year's extra time off due to injury
taught me, it's that quality is more important than quantity. Here's my game
plan for doing that:
Many of the workouts in my chosen ultra plan have minimum and maximum
distances. If I only can run the minimum mileage for that workout, then so be
it. I'm not going to stress about the higher end of the spectrum. Going to
focus on putting in time on my feet and less on the impressive numbers of garbage
mileage. Quality mileage.
Many novice runners make the mistake of thinking that every run needs to
be at break neck pace. Even old veterans can fall into this trap. During my
long run this week I even had to walk briefly. It was hot, humid and my legs
were shredded from all the volume earlier in the week. At first I started to
mentally beat myself up. But, I realized that I didn't need to do that. I
walked for a little bit, re-hydrated, refueled and got back into the groove for
the rest of the run. I even managed to get back on pace. Forward progress
counts, even if it's one step at a time.
As usual I've got numerous little aches and pains this year as I start
my training season. In the past I would've blatantly ignored them and forged on
through my cross-training. Not this year. Instead of doing excess reps with
excessively heavy weights I'm cutting back to the recommended number of reps
with the recommended weight amounts. In the past I've toed the starting line to
some of my races exhausted, injured or just on the verge of becoming that way.
Train smarter, not harder.
Training for endurance events eats up so much of your free-time that it can
feel like a second full-time job. Because of that, stretching was something
that I looked at as a nuisance. If I didn't have time for it, I didn't do it. Not
this year. I'm making an effort to make sure that I make the time to stretch
out. It's not a waste of time to do something that will decrease your overall pain
and increase your chances of staying injury free during your season. Make time
for stretching and increase flexibility.
Sleep is something of a rarity in my life whether I'm training or not.
With the increased workload of training I usually get even less during this
time of year. This year I'm going to focus on getting at least eight hours
everyday. Sleep is the most powerful thing for repairing the damage done to
your body during your training. Yes, learning to survive with less rest and
function at a high level of fatigue is part of distance training. But, doing
that everyday, every week is going to rob you of good performances when getting
your workouts in. Get rest and naps count!
I used to think that I was the only person that I needed to get through
my distance events. I was wrong. When you decide to take up the challenge of
running distance races you can't do it on your own. It affects everyone in your
life. It affects your time, your diet, your mood and about a million other
things. It's ok to ask the people in your life to help you when you need it. If
your spouse asks you if they can mow the lawn for you, let them. If you need to
make an appointment with your chiropractor, make one. You have a team. Use it
to help you get to the starting line healthy and happy.
As the training season approaches my stomach grumbles with anticipation.
It knows that when training finally starts that I can virtually get away with eating
anything that I want. This is one of the biggest hidden secrets of distance
athletes. We love running and we love the ability to eat like crap without
recourse. I'm not going to do that this year. This year food is going to be
less about comfort and more about quality. The alcohol consumption is going to
decrease as well as the high fat and high sugar type of foods. Food is fuel.
I survived this week and I'm pooped from the good effort. After doing so
many distance races I've come to realize that in the end it's not the event
that you remember the most. It's the countless hours that you spent and miles
that you ran that stick with you. The race itself is over before you know it.
But, the experiences you have while devoting yourself to becoming the best that
you can be for a single moment in time are priceless. They show you what's
truly inside.
So, when you're out there 10 miles from your home, exhausted, on a
country road without a car in sight, when there isn't a cloud in the sky, a blazing
sun beating down on you, with temps above 80 degrees, humidity so high that the
air's like pea soup, force yourself to smile. Remember one of my favorite
quotes from an unlikely source, Winnie the Pooh:
"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and
smarter than you think."
Ride that lightning my friends and have a great week. Let me know how your training's going and if there's anything I can do to help. The future looks promising
indeed...
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