April 14, 2020 – I wonder if I could …

/in /by

Hey Guys!

 

Wow, I really do miss you all and running with a group. Or with anyone at all! But I’m so glad to remain connected to many of you, whether through chats, waving on the trails as we pass, social media, etc… And what I’ve been seeing really inspires me and makes me happy. What it is is this: we’re all doing what we’re doing for the pure love of it. There are no medals or rewards or even accolades. We’re just quietly setting our own goals and expectations and we alone are the judges as to whether we gave an honest effort.

 

I’m sure most of us started out running this way. I know I definitely did. Then someone threw a race in front of us, and people cheered, and people posted, and our times became official, and we saw others doing the same things, and we judged and were judged. It is very hard to get away from all of that. But now we’re back to plugging away for our own intrinsic reasons, and it feels so pure. We are answering that quiet voice in our heads that asks, “I wonder if I could … ” with “I want to try”.

 

I see people in this group going after their own personal challenges. We have people who are seeing how many days in a row they can run, we have people quietly setting out and racing their own private 30K’s, we have people who are challenging themselves to run an Ultra (100 miles) over 7 days, we have people doing up to 400 push-ups a day, and that’s just what I know of. None of these things are in lights and they’re for no-one but the person doing them. There will be no official times nor anyone to compare themselves to. They just want to challenge themselves to do something which they’re not sure they’re capable of – but they want to try.

 

Two of us have kids who independently decided they wanted to try to take 100,000 footsteps in a day. They set out, and tried, because it seemed hard and they wanted to see if it was possible. They both made it 60% of the way there. There were of course no big accolades or friends to tell or medals at the end. They weren’t expecting any of that. There was a satisfied feeling of exhaustion and of having tried their hardest at challenging themselves. It was, “I wonder if I could …  I want to try”.

 

I love that we’re all free to listen to that voice again. Whatever you do now won’t be documented and no one cares but you. But that’s the most important person. I think we should all remember this feeling once the flood gates of races and times and pb’s and views and accolades and training for all of that open up again. This is a unique moment in time. Let’s appreciate it.

 

Here are some workout options for this week (remember – pick and choose, or go rogue and do your own thing!)

 

  • Pottery Road Hills (any combination of full and half hills)
  • Riverdale Hills (I loved the workout with 10 x squats at the top and 10 x push-ups at the bottom)
  • 4-6 x 4 min Hard w 2 min Easy
  • 25-30 min progressive tempo (start 10-15 seconds slower per km than usual tempo and gradually pick it up towards the end)

 

Enjoy and hope to see you out there!

 

Seanna