Tuesday, June 4, 2024 – Positive Mindset

Hi Everyone!!

How great are these long days right now? I don’t know about you but I feel like it just gives me so much more flexibility and more options to run and hang out outside. And I’m loving it! I’m not usually an evening worker-outer, but having broad daylight vs pitch black at 6pm really makes a difference for my energy levels. If you feel the same way, now is time to take advantage and maybe create a new routine! Maybe a walk after dinner or a bike ride after work. OR treat yourself to a sleep-in knowing you can get your workout in later. Sometimes I feel I’m pointing out the obvious, but I think it helps to be grateful for what we have when we have it because we can forget, and it is fleeting.

What I’ve been thinking about this week is in working on my “positive mindset”. Often people will say “stay positive” and I think it’s a bit of a misnomer. To me, staying positive doesn’t mean believing that it will all work out well or that I’ll achieve my goal. Because often it becomes acutely obvious that these things aren’t happening … and then what? You can’t lie to yourself, and fool yourself into believing that it’s all going according to plan and just paste a smile on your face and force yourself to act out the fantasy. So what does working to stay positive mean when things are obviously going in the wrong direction? I think it means staying engaged in the fight. You can know you’re not getting your PB or winning the race or having a good day very early on in some races. Staying positive is not blindly believing you will get those results, but being able to reframe on the fly, and remain tethered to the effort.

This is something I am working on daily, in running and in other areas of life. As I get older, the same effort reveals different (mostly slower) results than 20 years ago. It seems objectively hard to remain excited and engaged as your times get slower, but I’m learning to do that. I reframe based on my effort, my ability to complete a workout I didn’t think I could, by being a role model for others my age who want to keep pushing. I am not always successful at this. Many times I have looked at my watch and thought “it should not feel this hard for this result”. And then it spirals. My body believes the brief message that flashed from my brain, and it goes into survival mode. “This is too hard, there is something wrong, stop engaging”. Signals for muscles to contract are withdrawn, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Then it really IS too hard. Now it’s not mental, but actually physical. And you’re repeating over and over: “stay positive, stay positive, stay positive”, but it carries no weight if it’s not connected to a deeper meaning and understanding of purpose. Again, it’s not “positive thinking” as the term would imply. It’s reframing. What can I do now. How do I make this task engaging. How do I dig in vs. shutdown. That is the trick and the strategy to work on.

It is not just running and athletic endeavours which benefit from this ability to “reframe”. We’ve all seen people who have crumbled and shut down with some of life’s difficulties, and others who have managed to keep digging and keep powering through when they are thrown curveball after curveball. I wouldn’t call this latter group “glass half full” people, or that they see the world through rose coloured glasses. I think they have an ability to accept they’re not where they want to be or thought they’d be, and figure out a way to find purpose in working towards where they are now going. As I’ve said to myself and others many times, “what’s the alternative? Stop??” We all know that’s not happening.

I think this is the best any of us can do if we expect to remain engaged and purposeful in our races (and lives!) as we continue on.There will be many objectively great experiences, and there will be many for which we’ll have to call up our “positive mindsets” to get us through. The older I get, the more I seem to need it, but luckily also, the better I’m getting at it.

On to tomorrow’s workout: Lakeshore and Leslie – 6:05 Drills, 6:15 GO!

1. 2 x 1 mile w 2:00 rest 3 min rest 4-5 x 600 w 1:30 rest

(miles at around 5K pace, 600’s a lil quicker)

This is a faster type workout again. A good one for people running 5K’s this summer AND for people starting a marathon cycle. I like starting with faster stuff and we’ll get longer and more race specific as we get closer. Will be way easier to do longer reps at a slower pace after a few weeks of these.

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna