Results and process – RunningWell

Hey Everyone!

First up, huge congrats to Julia Costanza who ran the Big Sur Marathon! Looks like a gorgeous but quad blasting course. I’ll put that one on my bucket list. And to Cindy (PB!), Kerry and Carol who ran the Mississauga Half! Also from what I hear, a twisty, hilly course, with most of the uphills coming in the back half. So character building! Haha. And finally Sam Farrell and myself who ran the Bum Run 5K. LOVE 5K’s! Ok, they sting a bit, but it’s over so quickly.

I’ve been thinking a lot about results vs effort lately. Most of us start out in sport (I think) because we love the intrinsic effort and sense of satisfaction we get from trying our hardest. But it is so so hard to maintain that pure, unobstructed mindset once we achieve a few external accolades or awards. To hold onto the perspective of “this is what I do” not “this is who I am” is a constant challenge. Recently, one of the top long-distance triathletes in the world was caught for doping. This threw all of his teammates and competitors into a soul searching tailspin. What is the point of all of this if it isn’t about finding our own limits and looking ourselves square in the eye? Lionel Sanders had an honest take on it. His video is HERE. Basically his point is, there is only one winner. Everyone else is doing what all athletes do most of the time in sport: picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, accepting their less-than-perfect results, learning and growing, respecting their competitors, and getting back to the process. In truth, that is what it’s all about. Sure, we’re all aiming for the win or a great result, but we have to be mindful of when that becomes more important than the process. I notice this cropping up in myself and others when we put too many asterisks beside a result. “It was hilly”, “the course was long”, “so windy”, “I had to stop for x, y, z…” Basically what we’re saying here is, “I want you to see me as better than the result you see”. This is common, and I do it myself. But it leads to being dishonest. We’re trying to manipulate reality. I can’t think of one race any of my athletes have run this season that hasn’t been hilly, windy, “long”, or otherwise imperfect. So what? Everyone has still challenged themselves and run with heart, and committed to the training and the effort and accepted the result. And I am proud of every single one. This is sport. This is why we do it.

AI will soon be able to do many of the things that we thought were personal talents or uniquely human. It will be able to produce results – probably far superior to our own. This will make us question everything. But it will never be able to reproduce the sense of achievement felt through personal effort. That’s what we should continue to cultivate in ourselves. To work hard and try our best. YOU know when you’re proud of yourself. Results are meaningless. And seriously … no one cares what you ran.

On to tomorrow’s workout: Let’s do a social/fartlek along the spit! Meet at 6:05 at Leslie/Lakeshore for drills, 6:15 we’ll start making our way down to the spit.

Ppl tapering for Toronto Full/half! (Amy, Avia, Colette, Erin): 2 sets of 3-2-1 min on w 1 min easy, 3 min bw sets (3 mins @ race pace, can pick it up slightly for the 2 and 1 – nothing crazy)
Everyone else: 4 sets. Ppl coming back from marathons, keep the paces cruisey – especially the 3 min segments (think tempo). Ppl training for 5’s and 10’s, up the intensity. Starting a little slower than 5K pace for the 3 mins and picking it up as you go.

That’s all – see you in the am!

Seanna