Incremental Improvement

A little better every day.  Continue to work and you will get stronger and faster.  Muscles with become stronger.  Cardio will improve.  Red blood cells will multiply.  Oxygen will be delivered more rapidly to all of the areas that need it.  Stamina will improve.  One will be able to run faster longer.  All you have to do is put in the work and you will steadily improve… right?!?!  Sounds plausible, but NO! and NO!! and NO!!!  THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS!  Oh, and you will lose weight because you are expending more energy and burning more calories, right??  NO, and NO again. 

Who writes this poop?  I have heard these things my whole life.  I have believed many of these my whole life.  I have even told some of these things to others in an attempt to teach them how to improve.  BUT IT DOES NOT WORK THIS WAY!  At least not with running, at least not for me, at least not at this moment.  There are simply too many factors involved.  As I have mentioned before, I have had the mindset that running should just be easy.  It does not require a lot of equipment and preparation.  One just decides to go run and they just go run… SIMPLE… BUT IT IS NOT SIMPLE!  Not easy, not inexpensive, not quick (in reference to time consumption), It DOES require a bunch of equipment — expensive equipment, (my shoes are $150 a pair… my shorts are at least $75 each… my socks are $15 a pair), lots of research, and multiple ups and downs.

These things are difficult to accept when you have been relatively successful with a totally different mindset for your entire life, but the most difficult thing for me to deal with is the mental aspect of this sport.  Most of the sports that I have participated in have been physical sports.  Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, racquetball, tennis, etc… even golf and bowling etc… to some degree.  Just run full speed or swing hard or throw hard or hit hard.  Yes, I recognize that there is the need for finesse in all of these sports.  Most of the times when I have had difficulty with these sports has been because I tried to “muscle” my way through where I lacked finesse.  And to be fair (to me :) ), this technique has a fair level of success.  Not with running though.  Running is a different animal.

If I were to simply run faster and/or train harder, I have already shown, I would injure myself, and/or I would “gas out”.  It just does not work the same way as everything else I know.  I still think it should be easy.  I read an article the other day that was suggesting that running should be fun.  Just like when you were a kid.  Kids just run.  They run in the house.  They run in the mall and in the parking lot and in the grocery and everywhere.  They run around the pool. They run to the bathroom.  They run for fun and they enjoy running.  This article was suggesting that we should enjoy running the same way.  I have said this before and I will repeat it here — I do not like running!  Running is not fun.  I do not run to the bathroom (except in those rare moments when the Mexican restaurant wasn’t as clean as it should have been.  And even then it is less of a run than a squeeze and waddle.)  

I set this goal of running these half marathons as a way of forcing myself to continue running for fitness and weight control.  Without a goal, when it becomes difficult, most people, myself included often quit.  So, I set a goal.  I kind of figured that I would lose some weight and I would be able to run easier and farther and improve … just as a matter of working and expending the energy.  And just for fun, and to upset me, that is exactly what happened at the beginning.  I lost weight.  I was able to run farther.  Running was easier.  It was never fun, but it was easier.  I was faster.  I just assumed that would continue.  It did NOT!

I ran today with Valerie.  She was slated to run 4 miles.  Run for two minutes and walk for two minutes.  I figured I would run with her for a while, then when she started her walk phase I would continue running and double back and pick her up.  I figured I would run at least five miles, sort of around in circles.  I did just that for the first of her two miles which was a bit more than 2.5 miles for me.  But then my weak mind took over.  We got to the point where I knew she was at two miles and needed to turn around, so instead of running past and circling back as planned… I STOPPED and walked with her.  Then when she turned around and started back… instead of running past and circling back to pick her back up… I ran WITH her, at HER pace… AND THEN WALKED WITH HER — TWICE.  Then I decided that was not gonna work for me, so I ran on back to the neighborhood, then doubled back for her and went back to the house with her.  Such a weak mind.  It has become increasingly easier for me to convince myself to stop, to walk, to slow up — what a wuss!  And to make matters worse, when I got home I noticed that my shirt was drenched, soaking wet.  I laid down on the hardwood floor in the living room.  I left a puddle…. and I was tired!  I think I averaged a 10:00 minute mile for just over five miles and I was exhausted and sweating profusely.  So much for running becoming easier and more fun over time.  So much for improvement.

I am fully aware that we all go through dips in our journey in every sport and all aspects of life, and maybe this is just one of those.  It sure is frustrating though.  

I am getting a little nervous about Big Sky Montana in a few weeks.  Elevation is somewhere around 9000 feet above sea level.  Rumor has it the air is thin up there and the oxygen is not as abundant.  I was really hoping that I would be in great shape and the effects of the altitude would not be such a big deal.  Another potential issue is that this is a fairly small and remote race.  I am not so sure there will be any significant hydration stations.  I have been looking at water packs and water belts and had held bottles, etc… but I do not like to carry a bunch of “stuff”.  This should be interesting.