Hi Everyone!

Huge congrats to those who ran the Holly Jolly 5K! Colette and fam, Michelle Pitman (trains w us virtually) and son, Monica and Jeff! Some fast times and such a fun, festive, feel good event. Put it in your calendars for next year – I am!

I’m now in taper mode for a marathon coming up in a week and a half. I ran this marathon 24 years ago. There are so many differences in how I’m training and showing up at 49 vs 25 years old. I’ve been reflecting on some of these. One of the biggest differences is the amount of gratitude I bring now, for just being able to do it. Back then I took so much for granted. I had endless amounts of time ahead of me, so nothing felt too precious. I didn’t feel grateful for being where I was – I expected to be there and I expected results. Back then, when I would get injured, I’d view it as a huge annoyance and inconvenience, and I would almost feel irritated at my body for not allowing me to push it as hard as I wanted.

24 years ago, many of my friends were runners (that hasn’t changed). But back then, we were all young and expected to be able to run hard forever. We hadn’t really come face to face with the fragility of the human body, and we expected and assumed that every year we would become faster and stronger and better runners. We were reckless and hungry and demanding. Gratitude was not something that ever crossed our minds. We deserved everything.

Today I’m racing with way more appreciation and thankfulness for what I’m able to do, and the understanding that I can’t take anything for granted. Nowadays I work with my body, not in spite of my body, and am grateful every day that I can train hard and feel good doing it. I have seen friends and training partners not make it to the start line. I’ve seen life circumstances, accidents and physical limitations sideline people in my circle. I guess it’s one of those times where the longer you’re around, the more you see. But I’ve seen enough to know that I don’t take one day that I can do this for granted anymore. I don’t feel like I deserve any of the running days or race experiences that I have. I feel like they are gifts. And that is the attitude that I have going into this marathon almost a quarter of a century later – I am so full of gratitude for the training I’ve enjoyed and for the ability to be able to line up and race a marathon. This time, I will let go of performance demands and I will run with that sense of gratitude at the front of my mind. For my training partners who are there with me, for those who are cheering from home, for the ability to express myself in doing what I love. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

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

1. Anyone racing an upcoming marathon or who wants to do a benchmark workout before a build: 8 x 800 w 1:45 rest. Usually these land somewhere between 8K-10K pace. Try to keep them even paced.
2. Anyone not racing, 5-7 of these is a great range.
3. If your pace for these is not faster than 4:45/K, do 600’s instead. That is the correct effort for the same amount of time. Try to get your pace per interval down before extending them out too much at this effort.

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna

Hi Everyone!

Pretty sure there were no races last weekend. Lots of good training and more beautiful weather though! It’s getting cool and dark, so don’t forget to wear your lights!! (and your gloves – brrrr…)

As my personal training ramps up and becomes more focused, I’ve been thinking about what it takes to be successful when we have a big goal. I think that part of what it takes is a degree of self-focus. I was going to call it selfishness, but it’s not that. It’s not self-focus at the expense of other people. But it is looking at the big picture, including our goals and objectives, and figuring out how to commit to those fully. I think most of us are very used to putting other people and other peoples’ priorities ahead of our own. In fact we’re so used to it that we don’t even know we’re doing it. When we receive multiple demands on our time and energy, we figure out how to compromise so that we’re doing our best not to let anyone down. But sometimes that can leave our goals at the bottom of the priority list, and we’re not sure why we’re struggling.

Some examples of what will always help us achieve our goals: good overall general sleep, good nutrition going into a workout, good nutrition during a workout, good nutrition after a workout, positive vibes and mental space during a workout, a nap after a hard workout, if not a nap, the space to mentally and physically fully come down and recover after a hard workout. We can get in the mindset where just doing the workout feels like taking enough time for ourselves, and all the other stuff is nice if it happens, but not a priority. When I’m just training to train, that’s how I govern my life and it works. But when I’m training to compete, I create more space for the other stuff. And that means saying no to some things. I’m really not very productive during the day after long/hard runs, and I’ve let those expectations go for now. If a group run is too early for me, I will bow out, even though I love the social time. I just know I need the sleep. I grocery shop A LOT instead of just winging it and getting by on whatever food is available. I don’t leave the last banana because someone else might want it. I no longer don’t eat the food that other people in the house like because I’m saving it for them. I include my needs in with those of my household. Imagine! It’s funny that the shift I’ve made to be able to do this is not to think “I like it so I should have it”, it’s “I care about my training goals so I should have it”. Like many people, I’m pretty fine with going with less or without if everyone else is happy, because it’s just easier. But I can become savagely protective about my goals when I’m working towards them. I mean, otherwise, you’re not really working towards them are you?

So, call it selfish if you like. Again, I prefer self-focused. But when you’re putting everything you have towards something (and it doesn’t happen all the time), you can and should be putting yourself first in order to make it happen. It’s a healthy perspective and one which I also think is good to model. We don’t have to be martyrs and we shouldn’t have to suffer because we care about other people. It’s ok to sit out the family hike the day of a hard workout, or to say no to your buddy who has to workout at a time that doesn’t suit you, or to cocoon a little bit socially when you’re in “the zone” or to include massages and physio appointments as part of your weekly schedule. As I told my daughter, for whom I am trying to model putting her needs at least on the same level as other peoples’: “No is a full sentence”. (She had been asked to babysit late on the same day they wanted her and she was exhausted but didn’t have an “excuse”. I told her she didn’t need one and could just say “sorry, I can’t”). It was revelatory to her that she could consider her needs equally to someone who “needed” her. I realized I hadn’t modeled that very well. So go ahead and put yourselves first when you need to. It’ll shift back when you don’t have big goals, but while you do, why not give them the respect they deserve?

On to tomorrow’s workout – Hills! But shorter hills. We’ll do Riverdale hills vs Pottery (200m vs 400m).

Let’s do 2-3 sets of 3 x hill followed by 1K loop (Riverdale crew does the block from Broadview to Logan along Riverdale and Withrow). This is designed to be a little less “grindy” than the long hills + tempo. A lil peppier to complement people doing long work on the weekend. Also Boston people who want/need hill training and wouldn’t mind mixing up the stimulus. I’ll aim to be there (Riverdale clubhouse) around 6:10/6:15.

xo

Seanna

Hi Everyone!

Huge congrats to Mike Greenberg who competed at the Ironman World Championships in Kona Hawaii!!! Mike had an awesome swim and bike but was hampered in the run by an injury. So awesome to be there and go for it! And congrats to Cheryl, Karen and Adam (and Seb) who all ran the Day of the Dead 9K (Cheryl in full costume) and came 6^th, 3^rd and 2^nd in their age groups respectively! Way to go crew.

I had an experience this past weekend which made me appreciate the value of belief. I had written an ambitious workout for myself and a crew I’m training. I’d never done this workout before, and wasn’t sure how it would feel or whether it was possible. So I gave us a range. It turned out I had to do it later than most because of other commitments, but I could see their updates coming in, and could see that they’d all nailed it. So when it was my turn, I knew it was possible. Halfway through the workout I had serious doubts, and wondered if it was too much, but then I thought about my teammates and that gave me not only the confidence, but the belief that it was do-able.

I had the realization that if no one had gone before me, I would have had way more questions and doubts. I think this is one key as to why performances and records keep getting broken. So much of what we are capable of doing is limited or unblocked by what we believe we are capable of. I think this is the reason we see teams or training partners getting faster together. I also think it’s a super power for twins (I know a large number of twins who mostly happen to be very good athletes). You see one doing something and you KNOW you are capable of the same. And each person is pulled up to the other one’s best day.

We have witnessed a large number of running world records go down in the last little while. The women’s marathon record was shattered in Chicago, and the men’s half marathon record was just broken this past weekend in Valencia. There might be a number of reasons as to why and how these athletes are running so fast now, but one big one is that they believe they can. And every time a mark is set, everyone else learns that it is possible.

This doesn’t mean we should expect ourselves to be able to replicate other peoples’ marks or feats. That is not how to train or to live. But when someone leads the way or breaks a barrier, it can help remove the barrier in front of us as well. I am so grateful for all those who go before me and show me what is possible. It is risky, and doesn’t always pan out, but when it does, we all win.

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

Let’s do some straight up miles. 4-5 of them with 90 sec rest. Let’s start at tempo for the first one and work them down if feeling good.

If your pace for these is over 5 min/km, consider doing 1200’s instead. Otherwise you will be running a lot more time at that effort. I will bring a cone.

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna