March 23, 2021 – Fresh Start

Hi Crew!

First up, way to go Achilles runners! We still have a number of ppl running their races next weekend (good luck!) but some of us did ours on Sat. Notably: Sean Forest came out of the woodwork with a 5K PB of 21:01, Brianna who decided to forego the 18 minute mark altogether and ran a 1 min and 1 sec PB of 17:59, Amy Robinette (virtual LES member from the west end) who ran a 10K PB of 41:57 and I ran 37:42 for which I credit all of you who came and cheered and those who paced me to the finish! Oh, and big shout outs to our generous runners/pacers who ran to help others – Carolyn and Cullen! Carolyn realized at the start that a race wasn’t what her body needed, but turned the disappointment into an opportunity to help someone else. And Cullen was totally game for whatever pacing duties we threw at him (in this case he ended up being versatile enough to adjust mid-race to a 6 second per km faster pace than he’d been prescribed). Yay team!!!

What I’ve been thinking about this week is about fresh starts. There’s something about spring and a change in the weather that brings about the feeling of renewed energy and re-evaluation. The feeling of a Fresh Start is interesting. It doesn’t land on everyone at the same time, and you can’t force it if you’re not feeling it. I heard a great analogy about a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. When they go into their cocoons, caterpillars actually digest themselves and dissolve into a goo which reforms into a butterfly. But they require every single cell they had as a caterpillar in order to make up the butterfly. If they go in too early, they won’t be able to turn into a complete butterfly.

Similarly, only you will know when you’re ready for a change or fresh start of some sort. When you are, you will feel the energy and impulse to change or transform something in your life. And turning a page is a perfect place to start. In studies of baseball players who are traded to new teams in different leagues so their batting averages are reset, those who had lower averages brought them up after the switch. A blank slate allowed them to let go of past identities, and create new realities with new visions.

I think we’ve done very well in weathering a long COVID winter. It took grit and determination and inner strength. It’s definitely not all downhill with the wind at our backs from here, but if you’re feeling the energy of a fresh start, you can evaluate what you have liked and want to keep in terms of habits and routines you’ve set up, and what you might want to change or leave behind.

No one knows what will come next. It will still be different than anything we’ve experienced. But we’ve done a whole year of living with a pandemic now. We have the wisdom and confidence that comes from that, and can set ourselves up well for a new fresh start if we want to.

Onto workouts for this week!

2 mile tempo (half pace) 3 min rec, 4 x 800 w 1:30 @ 5K pace-ish (if your raced Achilles, slow it down and do a couple less)
If going by time: 12 min tempo, 3 min easy, 4 x 3 min hard w 1:30 easy
Tempo for this week (ATB racers don’t have one – you have some work embedded in your LR): 3 x 12 min w 3 min easy (ease into these and see if you can pick up the pace by a few secs/km for each set)

Have fun and see some of you on the roads!

Seanna