Hey Gang!

Happy September and Back-to-School and X-Country! Yes, that’sall the same season and will represent those things for me forever whether Iparticipate in them or not. There is a bit of melancholy that sometimes comeswith change, but there is also an energy – particularly with this specificseason change. I often tend to get butterflies of excitement in the fall, evenwhen I can’t pinpoint the source.

The summer generally represents fun, less structure, relaxing,playing it by ear… many people thrive on this. I think it’s a good mode to get into at times. I can definitely lean into sloppy, chill, go with the flow mode.But then September brings a vibe of “tightening up” and I don’t mind this transition either. More structure, more predictability. And yes, it’s often busier. So now is a great time to set up systems which can help us manage everything we want to get done.

Many of us are experiencing various changes this season,with kids in new routines, maybe some or all kids have left the house,workplace energy shifts, the starting of different roles at work, etc… And of COURSE we still have our training goals and objectives. Summertime is not a time for rigid schedules and routines – that defeats the purpose and we would be zero fun. But now that things need to get done and multiple objectives need to be met, it’s a good time to find some systems that work for us and which we can fall back on so we don’t lose our minds.

Some examples of systems that provide structure and help get shit done:

Run early in the mornings, show up to Wednesday workouts(whether you just get mileage in or join the workout), run commute two days a week, plan at least three dinners for the week on the weekends, have certain days that certain people in the house cook, pay a high school kid to pickup/drop off your younger kids from school/activities, share carpooling with other parents, join a gym that is close to you (I’ve learned that pretty much all that matters in a gym is proximity to you), hire someone to deep clean your house once a month so it isn’t constant background stress, pay your bills on every x day of the month, hire a tutor if homework is a nightmare, be set up to make a smoothie with protein every morning, pre-set your coffee machine the night before a morning run, meet the group for a weekend long run in the morning even though it’s the weekend, … you get the picture. Whatever your barriers tend to be, or whatever tends to get you running around like a chicken with its head cut off: create a system for that.

This might take some time because as most of us are in the midst of some sort of change, we may not yet know what we need or what our stumbling blocks will be. I’ve also noticed that many of the things on the list above require other people’s help and support. This is a key part of the system! Know when you can’t do it alone and ask for help or outsource the task completely.That is OK! Just set up the expectations and put the system in place. We got this team – good luck on a new season everyone!!!

(On this note, one of my new systems is this newsletter format. Turns out gmail had identified me as spam, so my emails weren’t getting through. Trying this out as a new system which should save me some time. Hope it works for y’all!)

On to tomorrow’s workout: Lakeshore and Leslie. 6:05 drills, 6:15 GO.

1. Let’s roll back to our standard 800’s. 6-8 of them with 1:30 rest. This is a good check in workout and gives options of leaning in or back depending on how you feel.

2. If you are still working on developing multiple gears for different paces, do the 600 of the 800’s. You will build up to doing 800 at that same pace. But start here.

3. At any time you can do a 600 of any of the 800’s if you need a tiny breather.

4. People running the Georgina 10K, 5-6 x600 @ 10K pace.

5. People running the Georgina 5K and the TrackSmith 5000: 4 x 400 w 1:15, 3 min set rest, then 4 x 200 w 1:00

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna