not running ... training.
my pal trevor posted this on facebook just this past weekend:
a little over a week out from my second marathon in two months and i'm itching to get back on the horse. i've told my friends that i still am trying to become that person who 'enjoys' running - really what draws me out to the roads time and again is a (un?)healthy fixation on claiming a PB or BQ time.
however, i'm trying to pan out my perspective a bit and look at my running career rather than just any given running season. as i do so i'm paying more and more attention to the importance of taking time off, gaining weight, and losing some fitness - all as acceptable pieces of building myself into a stronger, faster and more durable runner.
it's motivating to me that even the most elite of elite runners will take a number of weeks completely off from running after wrapping up their race seasons. i also read a great article from greg mcmillan last week subtitled "The lost art of recovering between training cycles", and it in he includes a bar graph showing his training weeks around a marathon:
and i asked myself, "could i lie low like that?" do i have that degree of courage/wisdom/focus?
the jury is still deliberating that one ...
in the meantime, i've taken up reading matt fitzgerald's book RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel on a recommendation from stan. i'm only about a third of the way through it, but it's quite an engaging read so far. it purports not to be a 'here's-your-to-the-letter-training-plan' kind of text but rather an exploration of some key factors that leverage each runner's unique ability to maximize potential - including how much fun you're having, gauging your own optimal mileage, and variations in stride mechanics (have you seen world marathon majors champion priscah jeptoo run?).
my hope is that perhaps as i reflect on fitzgerald's musings that i may find myself less of a slave to the training routine and more of a lover of the beautiful activity of running. to do so i'll need to heed lewis' advice of ditching the garmin for a while (isn't it surgically attached to my wrist?) and try greg mcmillan's idea of cultivating an inner gps.
for now, my (best-laid) plan is to let november be november and settle in for some rest time. as hard as that will be.
(he says as he completes this post just after a run)
