Patience – RunningWell

Hi Everyone!

I’ve been thinking a lot about patience recently. I think a lot of my pondering has been prompted by having a teenager! But I’ve been thinking about what makes us impatient. A lot of it, I think, stems from not having faith. In ourselves, in the process, in others. We don’t trust the ending, so we want to rush it.

When we start a marathon, we are not totally sure what we’ll feel like at 30K, but we know it will feel hard. That feeling is coming, but it’s so far away. We want to rush it – to get there – to start the fight now. But we can’t. We have to be patient, have faith that our future selves will be able to handle it. Our present selves can only help by being patient.

When we’re injured (yes, we’ve ALL been there), it’s the not knowing if and when we’ll be healed that is the worst. I think this is what gives us our greatest sense of anxiety. A bit of time off isn’t stressful. Not trusting that your body will ever heal or that your future self will be able to resume in the same way you want to, makes the waiting worse. I can guarantee you this: you won’t be injured forever and you will be back as strong or stronger than before. But it always feels like we won’t. We lose faith every time, and with it our patience.

Impatience is living in the future. We want it to come because we’re ready to deal with it now. But trust your future self. You will be there for yourself. Your present self can relax a bit knowing you’ll be there.

One thing about teenagers (at least mine) – they don’t ever seem to be in a rush. They have all the time in the world. I think a lot of that stems from their sense of confidence that things will work out. As my son often says, “that sounds like a whole lot of Future Hugo’s problem”. Which is super annoying as a parent, but there is something nice in his confidence in this Future Hugo’s ability to step up and deal (and yes, he usually does).

So when you’re feeling impatient, try to trust in your future self. Sure, there are things you can do to help set yourself up for better success, but you can’t deal with the future now. Be where you are, and have a little faith in future you – she’s got your back.

Onto this week’s workout! Back to 6:15 at L & L. (I think we should take a poll as to whether 6 should be our start time after this one … bts routines getting tight, but take the z’s while you can)

Boston racers, this is your last week of workouts. Please make sure your recovery runs are shorter than usual and very easy. This workout is to get the legs rolling faster. Will help with your running economy and efficiency so that race pace comes easier. Everyone else, same principle – let’s use this one!:

6 x 600 w 1:30, 3 min, 4 x 400 w 1:15, 3 min, 4 x 200 as long strides (45-60 sec rec)
If doing this fartlek style: 6 x 2 min w 1:30, 3 easy, 4 x 1:30 w 1:15, 3 min, 4 x 30 sec strides

See you guys in the am!

Seanna