Tuesday, March 19, 2024 – Boundaries

Hey Gang!

First up, huge congrats to Cindy who ran the NYC Half on the weekend with a PB and breaking the 1:30 barrier! Great job. I’m loving the momentum of spring races. Keep ‘em coming – I might even jump into one soon! Coming up this weekend we have Around The Bay with Brianna and Colette running the very random 34K distance. Wohoo!!!

Last night I took a yoga class for a little stretch before bed. It was a very chill class – not one flex of a muscle – all stretch. But at one point I looked over and there was a guy just lying on his mat with a towel as a pillow and sleeping. Or meditating – I don’t know. And I thought “good for you. You know what you do and don’t want to do and you’re owning it”. I already take that approach myself in yoga since I can’t get anywhere close to what the instructor is doing and many moves are completely off the table for me. Neither myself or the guy were trying to achieve anyone else’s standards or results. (Well, me a little more than the guy). We knew what we needed and just did that.

I’ve embraced this perspective more as I’ve gotten older and trust myself more. I also appreciate it in others when they push back and say “I’m not doing this” or “I’m only running this much”. I believe they know what they need. It’s hard to maintain these boundaries in this era of optimization. With everyone telling us the perfect amount of protein we need in every meal, the ideal number of miles to run in a week, how much water we need to be drinking with which supplements, how many days a week we need to be lifting heavy weights, how many hours of sleep we should get, how present and attentive we need to be to our relationships … There is always more we could be doing and things we could be doing “better”. In the optimization world, there are no boundaries. So I find there is actually a freedom in rebelling against that and saying “I’m not doing that”. I like it when I hear this from athletes I coach. Sure, there are ALWAYS more things they can be doing to help make them faster/stronger/more resilient. But I first need to know the boundaries they have that they will work around. If they don’t have any, I know something will probably pop up mid-cycle that makes the training untenable. I think it is fine to push back and rebel against a world that will keep asking us to give more and more with no end. In fact, it’s a true act of confidence which others can choose to follow. So go take a nap in your yoga class. I will admire your self-belief and ability to rebel against optimization and judgement.

Why rebel if there is nothing permanent in oneself worth preserving? – Albert Camus

Rebellion, though apparently negative, since it creates nothing, is profoundly positive in that it reveals the part of man which must always be defended. – Albert Camus

On to tomorrow’s workout. We’re back to HILLZZZZ! Let’s change it up though with half hills + tempo. Or 200m hills for those in the beach. These give you a little more pep because we can run up them with a bit more gusto. Pottery crew will stay at Pottery, but we’ll do our hills starting at the stairs vs at the bottom.

Let’s do sets of 3 x half hill, followed by 6 min tempo (yes, a bit longer than the previous 4 min). The longer tempo pieces are getting more specific to ppl racing a spring marathon. 2 to 3 sets. 1 minute-ish (or walk to and from your tempo spot) between hills and tempo.

I’ll aim to be at Pottery at around 6:20-ish. Come when it works and start when you get there.

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna