April 14, 2021 – Focus on the good moments

Hey Everyone!

Huge congrats to everyone who ran Around The Bay virtual 30K this weekend! (Shauna, Stephanie, Samantha, Laura, Amy, Zoe). What an inspiring show of positivity and “the show must go on” attitudes! I know many of us trained with you through the winter, and were very inspired by your races – just a reminder that even when you think you’re doing something just for yourself, it can have a large ripple effect to others.

Onto my thoughts this week! What I’ve been thinking about is noticing and paying attention to the moments that are fine. Or even good.

There are so many parallels in this pandemic with running a marathon, so I’ll start there. First up, in a marathon, the closer you get to the finish line, the harder it gets. There is no sense of relief with 10K to go. And please for the love of god, if you’re ever cheering for anyone running a marathon, never ever say “You’re almost there!” unless they are steps and I mean steps away from the finish line. And I think that’s where we find ourselves in this pandemic. We’ve put in the work and the time which have led us to this place pretty exhausted. And although yes, we have less actual time to go, it is all relative. It is so much harder now as we get closer to where we want to be. That is precisely because of all the work we’ve already done. Starting fresh, we could do this last bit no problem. But we’re not fresh. And everyone knows the marathon STARTS at 30K.

Most people also know that good marathoners work on their mental game as much as their physical game. One thing they really practice and get good at is staying in the moment.

Don’t think about how hard it is now, and how far you have to go, and that there’s no way you can maintain this pace given how this feels. That is the kiss of death in the last third of any race. Instead, seasoned racers who can push themselves to the limit think “right now, this is ok. Right now, I can put one more foot in front of the other”. They know their brains are bad at projecting and can get overwhelmed, but that a series of manageable present moments add up. They often don’t think beyond the next kilometer, or sometimes even the next footstep.

So don’t think: “these days are so hard, I’ll never make it two or more months”. Just remind yourself that right now, you are ok. I was walking during sunset with a friend the other evening, and I said “this is all very hard. But this right now is really nice.” We smiled and enjoyed the moment. It’s up to you to notice those fine or good moments. Even during a time of difficulty they will appear, so it’s up to you to pay attention and savour them. That’s where you’ll find your mental strength to go on.

On to workouts for this week!

ATB racers – I hope you’re taking a good chunk of time off. No running for up to a week and then nothing structured for at least another. Then let your body and motivation guide you.

Everyone else:

5-7 x 1K w 1:45 rec. Start at HM pace and if feeling good can work down to 10K pace.
If doing fartlek: 5-7 x 4 min Hard, 1:45 Easy
If your legs are bored or tired or needing something different, do a drills and strides “workout”. 2-3K w-up, 20 mins of drills, 4-5 strides, 2K c-dn
Tempo: try this – a few of us did it the other weekend and it was different and fun – 2/3 of your regular qty of hills followed by 2/3 your regular tempo. So something like 3-4 hills followed by 15-20 mins of tempo. The tempo is actually a relief after the hills!

Have fun everyone!

Seanna