Building Momentum

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Hi Gang!

 

This week marks getting back into the regular swing of things. If you’re looking for an early season race to kick things off, the Robbie Burns 10K is back. A bit earlier this year – Jan 22nd. If racing more was on your list of goals this year, here’s a great way to start. They are offering a $10 discount with the code “ROBBIESBACK”.

 

Most ppl are rolling with goals for the spring. I know I still owe some plans and I am on that over today and tomorrow! (any specific immediate q’s please check in with me). What I’ve been thinking about is Momentum. Man, is that ever a thing, eh? When you have it, things just flow so much more easily. When you don’t, you wonder how you ever did the things you’ve done before. Obviously, starting from holiday mode (which we all needed, so let’s not beat ourselves up), we do not have a lot of forward momentum. Getting going and finding the rhythm that works might feel a bit harder at the moment. That’s ok. It’s normal. Starting the boulder moving is the hardest part. Here are a few things to consider during this phase:

 

  • Don’t wait to feel motivated. Motivation often follows action. Trust that it will come and your mental energy will catch up to match your physical action. Then you can start relying on your “desire” to get out there. But first, you have to start.
  • Start slowly. It is way easier to form habits of easier tasks (drinking a glass of water in the morning) than harder tasks (running 15K every day). All you’re asking yourself to do for now is to just show up. Just start. If you start the workout and it’s going poorly and you hate it – stop. You can. If you start a run and it’s a 20 minute run – that’s great. Just start.
  • Finish on a high note. This is “habit formation 101” – we tend to recall how we finished something vs the hardest part of the thing. They did an experiment with two groups of cyclists and gave them the exact same workload, but one group finished with the hardest part, and the other finished with some easy cycling and chatting. Then they had them rate the difficulty of the workout. Those who finished with easy social cycling rated it as easier and more pleasurable. I think this is why the social chatting and cool-downs from our workouts are key. If you’re solo, make sure you finish every hard effort with some sort of reward – 20 minutes to read with a coffee, a bath and a book, your favourite smoothie … whatever will attach a positive memory to the experience.
  • Be flexible and allow for nuance. Nothing kills a sense of joy and motivation like a forced, rigid schedule. Some of the most successful athletes are the ones who understand what they are supposed to do from their plan, and then figure out how to make it fit their life. They don’t contort themselves into pretzels to fit it all in “perfectly”. If they’re skiing with family on weekends or have a busy work week or are experiencing some pain – they are ok with mixing things around and making it work for them.

 

Those are my tips for now – I’m there with you all in this. And one thing we can’t change but man it would help – a little sunshine for even 5-10 minutes at one point this month! We’re not asking for a lot.

 

Ok, on to tomorrow’s workout! Back to Lakeshore and Leslie. 6:05 drills, 6:15 GO.

 

  1. 1 mile tempo. 2 min rest. 10 x 400 w 1 min rest. 3 min rest. 1 mile tempo (this last tempo only for those with spring marathons or ATB and only if feeling good).
  2. People just getting into things or coming back from illness/injury: 1 mile tempo, 6-8 x 400 w 1 min rest.
  3. If going by time: 6 min tempo, 10 x 90 sec Hard, 1 min Easy, 6 min tempo.
  4. If on the fence, just come out and start. 1 mile tempo is a good place to start.

 

That is all – see you in the am!

 

xo

 

Seanna

Gradual Growth

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Hi Everyone!

Happy New Year!!!! I’ve seen many of your goals coming in, and I’m really not just saying this – I smile so wide when I read them. I just love seeing the energy and enthusiasm and passion come through. I also see a lot of self-reflection in them, which I love, and this is what I wanted to chat about.

Obviously the New Year is the biggest of Fresh Starts that we tend to experience. Although, it’s definitely not the only one. We can channel the Fresh Start Effect on birthdays, changes of season, beginnings of the month…  January is a large collective one though, and the energy is big.

One thing I’ve been thinking is important when we look ahead to set goals, it to first look back and reflect on everything we’ve accomplished this past year. A year is a long time. It’s easy to quickly forget all that we’ve done and accomplished. If you keep a log, take a look through the past year – you’ll probably feel a little sense of awe at all that you’ve done. Or swipe through the photos on your phone starting from last January. Sometimes it’s amazing all the experiences we pack into a year. So take a second, and look back and be happy for what you’ve done.

Now, in looking forward, don’t reinvent yourself. Add to who you already are. You’re not “starting from scratch” as much as it sometimes feels that way. You’re bringing every win, every failure, every injury healed back stronger, every tough workout and race, all the conversations you’ve had, relationships you’ve built, books you’ve read – along with you. These are now all part of you going forward. Like a tree, we’ve added a ring of experience. And that will always be there as we add more and more rings. When trees experience tough conditions, like drought or disease or big temperature variance, the stress is reflected in the size of the rings those years. But those are still fundamental parts of the tree, and bigger, stronger rings can grow around it the next year.

The other funny thing about trees is that they grow so imperceptibly. Looking at them, they appear completely static. One day looks exactly the same as the last. But over the course of a few years the change is astounding. I had a little twig on my front lawn 7 years ago, and now it’s a beautiful big tree which dazzles us with shapes and colours over three stories of our house. I think for lasting changes within ourselves we should look to a tree’s timeline. If you think you’ll be noticing a big difference in a week or a month, you might be starting out of the gates a bit quick. Don’t worry – you’re growing. Another ring will be added this year. Just make sure you’re pointed in the direction you want to go and take it one little day at a time.

 

Tomorrow we’re back to hills!!!

 

For those of us training for Around The Bay or Boston – we need these. For those training for flat courses – it will still help!

Let’s start to layer in some running off the hills again. If coming to Pottery:

3-4 x full hill, 2 min rest, 5 min tempo. Repeat.

If meeting in the beach or elsewhere, same idea. 3-4 x 400m hill, 2 min rest, 5 min tempo. Repeat.

I’ll aim to be there around 6:10/6:15. Start when you get there and hope to see you on the hill!

 

xo

 

Seanna