Tuesday, October 29, 2024 – Belief

Hi Everyone!

Huge congrats to Mike Greenberg who competed at the Ironman World Championships in Kona Hawaii!!! Mike had an awesome swim and bike but was hampered in the run by an injury. So awesome to be there and go for it! And congrats to Cheryl, Karen and Adam (and Seb) who all ran the Day of the Dead 9K (Cheryl in full costume) and came 6^th, 3^rd and 2^nd in their age groups respectively! Way to go crew.

I had an experience this past weekend which made me appreciate the value of belief. I had written an ambitious workout for myself and a crew I’m training. I’d never done this workout before, and wasn’t sure how it would feel or whether it was possible. So I gave us a range. It turned out I had to do it later than most because of other commitments, but I could see their updates coming in, and could see that they’d all nailed it. So when it was my turn, I knew it was possible. Halfway through the workout I had serious doubts, and wondered if it was too much, but then I thought about my teammates and that gave me not only the confidence, but the belief that it was do-able.

I had the realization that if no one had gone before me, I would have had way more questions and doubts. I think this is one key as to why performances and records keep getting broken. So much of what we are capable of doing is limited or unblocked by what we believe we are capable of. I think this is the reason we see teams or training partners getting faster together. I also think it’s a super power for twins (I know a large number of twins who mostly happen to be very good athletes). You see one doing something and you KNOW you are capable of the same. And each person is pulled up to the other one’s best day.

We have witnessed a large number of running world records go down in the last little while. The women’s marathon record was shattered in Chicago, and the men’s half marathon record was just broken this past weekend in Valencia. There might be a number of reasons as to why and how these athletes are running so fast now, but one big one is that they believe they can. And every time a mark is set, everyone else learns that it is possible.

This doesn’t mean we should expect ourselves to be able to replicate other peoples’ marks or feats. That is not how to train or to live. But when someone leads the way or breaks a barrier, it can help remove the barrier in front of us as well. I am so grateful for all those who go before me and show me what is possible. It is risky, and doesn’t always pan out, but when it does, we all win.

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

Let’s do some straight up miles. 4-5 of them with 90 sec rest. Let’s start at tempo for the first one and work them down if feeling good.

If your pace for these is over 5 min/km, consider doing 1200’s instead. Otherwise you will be running a lot more time at that effort. I will bring a cone.

That is all – see you in the am!

xo

Seanna