Tuesday, November 12, 2024 – Self-focus

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.

Seanna