Tuesday, May 14, 2024 – Racing and art

Hi Everyone!

Congrats to everyone who raced or lined up at the Sporting Life 10K on the weekend! In our group we had Ingrid, Cheryl, Jen, Pearce, Michelle P (trains w us virtually) and myself. Some super fast times, some solid races on which to build, and some learning experiences.

One thing I love – or rather appreciate – about racing, is how it opens us up. We are completely vulnerable when racing, and the full-hearted effort, whether we are happy with the result or not, demands humility and compassion towards ourselves and others.

Often I can go about life a bit busy, a bit task-oriented, a bit insensitive. And I don’t mean insensitive in the sense that I don’t care about other peoples’ feelings – more in that my senses aren’t open. I might hear a song, or see some art, or read a poem, and it slides off me. I’ve been to museums when I wasn’t in the right mood and I try to “understand” it or be touched by it but all I can do is be impressed by the artists’ talent (which I am sure is not the point of creating art). Similarly with poetry. Sometimes I try to read the words in order to understand, and they just don’t penetrate. Or I sit in the car and just flip from station to station, never landing on a song for its duration.

I am not an artist in the conventional sense. But running and racing are my expression of myself in the world. When we are out there – alone in nature or trying our hardest publicly, we are expressing something about ourselves through physicality. I believe that is my art, and it in turn opens me up to appreciating other forms.  

Often it is when I’m in this state of physical expression that I find myself in a mood where I have some cracks, and the other art can come in. I’m not sure why running and racing open this porthole for me.  Maybe it’s the combination of mental and emotional vulnerability accompanied by physical exhaustion, or at least sedation. And then I find myself seeking out the poetry or songs or art that now make sense. Ethan Hawke has spoken about art in this way in his great Ted Talk on creativity. Most people don’t need art in everyday life, until they go through something – grief, heartbreak or even something positive like the euphoria of a certain state or falling in love. And then there is nothing more important in the world than an artistic reflection and recognition of what they are experiencing.

I think some people live their lives open to this state quite a bit – or at least have easy access to it. We call these people artists. Running and more so racing seem to be my entryway. Searching my physical limits, testing myself, immersing myself in contemplation and reflection – pulls back the curtain to a dimension that’s not always available to me. I don’t think I could handle hanging out there all the time. For me, I like feeling like I can understand art every once in a while. And I’m grateful that from these glimpses of understanding, I can sometimes find meaning in my “impossible to explain” experiences and emotions which arise and are expressed through running. It is then that art, poetry and music not only make more sense to me, but they are the only things that do.

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

Speaking of racing, summer is a great season to get in some shorter distance, less “all in” races between marathon seasons. If you’re racing a marathon in the Fall, I highly recommend doing some shorter distance races this summer. A few reasons: A) We all have some “bad races” in us, and it’s good to get them out of the way before the big one. B) Racing shorter distances puts marathon pace and effort in its place and becomes a mental and physical strength for the marathon. C) Racing is a skill which we can only get better at by doing it.

On that vein, we will start sprinkling in some shorter distance oriented workouts:

1. 1 mile progressive tempo (I think this is a good way to warm up before launching into faster speed in the am). 2 min rest. Then 3-4 sets of (600-400-200) – 1:30 between reps, 3 min bw sets. 600’s at at least 5K pace (see if you can get down to 3K pace), then faster for the rest.
2. If you raced Sporting Life as a through-race and are still sore, do the mile tempo and then feel it out (will vary depending on how sore and how well you’re recovering).
3. If you raced Sporting Life as your goal race for the build – take a break before re-setting!

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna

p.s. Still taking guest entries for the newsletter – please send any random or concrete thoughts my way!