Perseverance

SNAPSHOT

Expect Pain

DIGGING DEEPER

Kristen’s Story

Remembering a snippet from a conversation at the summer pool enabled Kristen to train for her first marathon. “It is ok to feel pain while and after running.  However, you don’t want it to get out of hand and change your running stride,” were the words that kept her on track to obtain her goal.

Yes, I said it will hurt to run.  Your body is not accustomed to jumping from one foot to the other in a continual quick motion.  You are shocking it.  Even if you have run ten miles before and are only running one more extra mile, your body has not run this extra mile recently or perhaps even ever.  It is ok to feel pain.  You will make it.  Keep putting one foot in front of the other and you will reach the end.

However, there is a bad pain that is not good.  It leads to injury.  You will know if it is a bad pain if it causes you to change your stride or limp.  At this point stop running and seek rest and help. It does not mean that you are done running forever and need to lay on the couch for the next two weeks in mourning. If often means your training will change to cross-training until your amazing body heals itself.

For the pains that are not changing your stride try this method. When you have pain, pause and stretch the area.  Try to relieve the pain.  Then attempt to run again. 

If your pain decreased, continue for your allotted distance.  

Pain that increases will change how you land or move through the air, causing a more serious injury. This is the point where you rest and seek professional help.

Runners persevere through hardship and strive forward through pain and discomfort.  The reward is worth the effort.

SOLUTION  

Your determination will yield rewards, but be wise.

Share with me your perseverance stories by clicking comment below. I am so curious.

CHANGING THE WORLD by Passing On the Joy of Running

SNAPSHOT

How can you introduce and include running in a child's formable years?  Freedom

Run alongside a child this week. You will change their world.

DIGGING DEEPER

Set aside your usual view of children's running and foster a theory of freedom. Children intuitively train their bodies through the phases of early growth. From rolling to walking to running from you, they challenge their bodies to develop stronger muscles and greater stamina. The child who falls asleep half way through his or her dinner has eaten just enough to let the need for sleep take over. This is intuitive and natural. They know when to rest and when to play. Read more of the Passing on the Joy of Running, Adirondack Sports article.

SOLUTION

Share the benefits of movement with the young around you.  Volunteer and support groups that provide running teams for children. See links below for local youth programs. 

Girls on the Run 

Just Run

USATF Adirondack Association

I must add STEM RUNNING to the list even though they are a group for adults.  They are passing on the joy of running with great passion!

The Registering Dilemma

So many choices...

SNAPSHOT

To register or not, that is the question.

DIGGING DEEPER

The options are swirling around.  One training group is running the Philly Marathon this year, another one is going for casual 5Ks, you are stuck in between not knowing what to choose? All the while your heart has been stuck on trying a mountain trail race.

Here is a simple guide to help your registering nightmare become blissful!

1. What do you love, distance or speed?

2. What do you need, distance or speed?

3. If this was your last chance to race in America, what event would you participate in?

4. Which race would you drive 3 extra hours out of your way to pick up a friend or family member in order to run the race together?

5. What race will you get up at 5 am or stay out on the road after work in order to train for?

6. Will training for this race distance prepare you for your lifetime running goals?

7. Does your coach or experienced training partners agree that your top choice is within reach?

I hope through answering these questions you have found your "A" race of the year!  Now go and put your heart into it each and every day.  

If you would like more help sorting through what is the best choice for you, contact me for a coaching session where we can plan out your training and racing seasons.

SOLUTION

Read my NO DAYS OFF post (following post) about spending every day recovering from yesterday and preparing for the next day.

Colleen Cahill in her glory after a CA trail race.

No Days Off

SNAPSHOT

No Days Off encompasses awareness, honesty, and devotion.

DIGGING DEEPER

"KEEP YOURSELF HONEST...No Days Off is not a race towards your physical breaking point, but rather a call for moderation – a daily greasing of the groove where today’s run is only as important as what you are able to do tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after that . . ." Tracksmith

I have fallen in love with the concept of being aware of your body's needs every day.  To care for your body and mind with honesty and devotion.

My body does not need to run 365 days a year but it does need to recovery from yesterday and prepare for tomorrow. I strongly suggest for a runner to have days off from running, to give the body rest.  It is only during rest that the body can repair itself and prepare for the same feats in the near future.

However, there is also a need for perseverance and devotion in order to strengthen the body and mind.  We need to run often in order to increase our abilities. Running most days for an intermediate runner causes the correct amount of adaptions.  It is when a runner gets too greedy and doesn't allow for recovery that injury and exhaustion occur.

The fine line between these two zones of recovery and training is where awareness and honesty keep us healthy. Awareness of how much we are asking of the body and the need to rest in order to become stronger keep us from overtraining.  An honest look at our weaknesses, and devotion to continue when we don't feel like it, pulls us up to our potential.

When training a runner, I seek to balance to training and recovery.  Here is a sample of an average week for an average runner that I coach.

Look at how hard days of running are balanced with easier days.  Notice that there are two days of no running but instead, they are replaced with either core strength or active recovery.  Every day the runner is progressing toward their potential and yet giving the body and mind the rest that is needed.  

Special Note: Please don't use this training schedule next week.  This runner has spent many months preparing themselves for this volume and intensity of running.  On the other side, don't be afraid of it.  This runner was not a runner one year ago.

RECOMMENDATION

I recommend using Tracksmith's No Days Off Desk Calendar or Poster.  I am giving them away on my Facebook live video on New Year's Day!

This instrument can help to keep you aware of your devotion through honestly evaluating if you cared for your body that day.  If you ran when you needed a run, then mark the calendar.  If you performed your yoga or Pilates routine in order to give yourself core strength and active recovery then mark the calendar.  On the day you truly needed an hour laying comfortably while reading instead of pounding the pavement then mark the calendar.  

The day you don't mark the calendar is when you turned away from your planned training or recovery to eat nachos and feel guilty. There will be the next day when you can accomplish and mark your calendar as a reward for your awareness, honesty, and devotion.

SOLUTION

Every day embark upon becoming stronger through either running or recovering. 

The Elusive Sense of Balanced

SNAPSHOT

Life feels crazy and out of control. 

DIGGING DEEPER

As we are tossed and turned by the winds of the day, we seek peace through balance.  There is a constant striving for that mystical equilibrium that evades our senses.  We say, I will shore up this pillar, I will wind around this trail in just the right way.  I can find a way to be balanced.  Yet, our fault is trying to control the circumstances instead of controlling our focus.  There will always be distractions, disappointments, and disasters, but it is where your eyes and mind are focused, that keeps the balance. 

Seeking to balance with all four limbs on a large therapy ball, I noticed the parallel to the balancing that happens in my life.  Distractions by my son pounding into the room or the dump truck rumbling through the streets right outside my window, try to pull my mind away from the balancing exercise.  I crash to the floor with the ball ending above me. A mess.

Remember the key to balancing is starting with your intention on a focal point.  Specifically, that one corner of the sofa, or flower in the design of the rug, can gather all your attention.  Balance is all about that focal point.  There will be distractions, no matter how much you try to eliminate them. There will be disappointments no matter how positive you will yourself to be.  Sadly disasters will befall you and those you love.  Those elements surrounding, you can not control.  However, you can control what you focus on.  The tossing and turning you are feeling in the rough waters of life are because you are losing your focus.

So what to focus on?  Focus on what is valuable to you.  What inspires and leads you? For me it is God.  When I have my focus on God, then I am balancing.  Note I did not say balanced.  We are NEVER going to be absolutely balanced.  The earth is turning and you must always adjust.  However, you can be balancing.  When on the ball in my living room, I can be balancing for minutes.  I can be in a state of balancing.  It is active and takes my whole mind.  I sift out the sounds and movements around me.  I know what is happening and care about those circumstances.  I am aware, but I don’t take my eye off my focal point.  

RUNNING FOCUS

How does this happen in running?  Your focus may be a particular goal race that you are training for.  When a long workday, seasonal sickness, or a small injury, keep you from a planned run, don’t toss in the towel.  Keep your eyes on the goal race and make the needed adjustments to your training plan and continue on.

Last week just after reaching a new level of fitness, I pulled a shin muscle and needed 5 days off from running.  I was not panicked. Patience and wisdom guided my actions and thoughts. Instead of worrying, I enjoyed the extra hours of reading, knowing that I would soon be back on the road with little time to read. With my eyes on my goal of a strong base mileage phase of training, I knew the rest was going to be good for my body.  Balancing through the ups and downs of training can keep me on the path to accomplishments. 

The craziness of a family of six

PARENTING FOCUS

How does this happen in parenting?  Your focus may be to raise your children to be contributing adult citizens to their community.  There comes that disappointing decision your child made. Your heart is hurt and you are embarrassed. Don’t throw in the towel and say all is lost and you failed as a parent. Instead remind yourself that it is an up and down journey for your child and keep focused on the goal of raising them to be a contributing citizen.

SOLUTION

Balance with calmness by having your eyes on the focal point.

June 2011