Whether I’m training for anything in particular or not, I generally run or do some sort of cross-training nearly every day. If I’m not, it’s usually because I’m either sick or too busy and preoccupied with something else. Last week, however, I took the week off of running for no other reason than to give myself a break after my half-marathon in order to come back to running completely refreshed. In my time off running, I tapped into something. It wasn’t time, because I run at 5:00 a.m. so if I’m not running I’m sleeping. It wasn’t physical energy, because I find running tends to give me more energy throughout the day. It was more of a personality change, really, which I can’t quite explain.

Some examples:

My children don’t love vegetables. It is a fairly constant battle to get them to eat them. When I’m in running-mode, I approach it as something to get-done, and force them in however I can (usually at breakfast!) During my running break, however, I decided to take the kids grocery shopping, buy some fresh zucchini, carrots, apples and bananas, and take them home to help me to bake all of the healthy goodness into muffins and loaves. If you know me, you know how uncharacteristic that is and how I sometimes make fun of people who do things like that because really, JUST EAT YOUR VEGETABLES!

Veggie-filled muffins and loaf

I’m a fairly social person, and I love a good party, but I generally have a limited reserve for going out to multiple parties in a row. I call it “doing a double” (similar to double runs) if I go out two nights in a row. It’s a rare occurrence. However, during my running break, I planned, looked forward to and enjoyed going to four social gatherings in three days! Not only that, but I didn’t even worry about wearing impractical footwear.

My party footwear of choice when not running

Usually for Halloween, we appreciate the neighbours’ done-up houses, but we aren’t really the ones who do more than a pumpkin or two. I generally don’t see the point in buying dollar-store junk which will then take up space in our house for a year and will eventually end up in a land-fill, all for one night. But for some reason this year I got a bit more into it. We did the dollar store trip, went to the park to find sticks to use as gravestones, and I let my kids decorate the house how they wished (which included them climbing our tree with all sorts of caution tape wrapped around everyone’s limbs).

What happens when you let the kids decorate

Happily, I am now back to running. I’m hoping I haven’t done anything permanent, and I’m assuming my normal personality will return. My friends and family will have to wait for my next running break to see a return of the veggie-muffins, multiple late nights and tacky house.

I’m not sure where it originated, but on our university track team we used to use the term “secret demon training”. Secret demon training referred to any running which was done in addition to what was done with the rest of the team. This additional training would always be done on the sly, as trying to get a leg-up on your team-mates was not cool, and it never looked good to seem like you were trying too hard to get the results you showed. It was pretty hard to actually pull off secret demon training in secret, as all of our runs started and finished at the Phys. Ed. Centre in the middle of a small campus in a small town, but that didn’t stop us from frequently suspecting others of having pulled it off. For example: “John is suddenly way more fit than the rest of us. I think he’s been doing some secret demon training!” or “I think Paula did an extended cool-down instead of running home after workout – total secret demon!”

I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of secret demon training. I picture someone leaving their house in darkness to “sneak in” extra miles or a track workout all alone with no one to offer support or praise. The only vindication comes after a race, when their stellar results belie the training they seem to have done. I have no problem with people doing extra work – it is inspiring to all of us. The trick, however, is to spot the secret demon training behind it, so you don’t feel badly about the results you’re getting for the work you’ve put in.

Luckily, I have a trained eye, and I know these secret demon trainers are out there – in running and in other areas of life. Here are some examples:

Your training buddy who shares your ten year old PB’s and with whom you’ve been doing every run for the past five years suddenly has a shiny new 10K PB by over a minute: secret demon training.

Your mom who has a gourmet, three-course, all food groups included dinner prepared for you when you drop by, and claims she’s just “tossed together whatever was in the fridge”: secret demon cooking.

Your acquaintance who you meet for drinks and shows up looking ridiculously well put together with accessorized hair, make-up and outfit but claims to have just “thrown something on and walked out the door”: secret demon primping.

Your friend with four kids, two cats and a dog has a spotless show-room ready house every time you go over, but always apologizes for the huge mess: secret demon all-night house cleaner.

So be awed, and be inspired by other people’s great achievements. But just remember – if their results seem too good to be true, there is probably some secret demon training at work.