I just realized tonight that I missed blogging last week. Not that there was a whole lot to blog about – I put my head down and got my four days and 15 miles in.
Progress is slow, but it’s coming. Each week is a little easier. On tap this week:
One thing for sure, starting again from scratch is teaching me the virtue of patience…..
Yes. I know. What a bombshell. But I have an explanation! Really!
I’ve been around long enough (face it – I know who Walter Trout is and you don’t) that I understand what motivates me. And the bottom line is what motivates me is reaching a goal. I’m willing to put up with pretty much anything to get there. So, while I don’t love running, if it’s the means to the end, then I *will* do it.
I guess what I’m saying is that I have a goal that involves running as a means to achieve it. Right now it’s carrot cake.* With cream cheese frosting.** The best I can tell, there’s about 300 calories in each slice of carrot cake with cream cheese icing. So, for every three miles I run, I can have a slice of carrot cake. There. See how easy that is?
Well. I guess I better go earn a piece of carrot cake….
* No. Actually that isn’t my goal. I’m keeping my real goal secret for for a few weeks to make sure my body isn’t going to fall apart again. I hope you get my point though.
** But, if carrot cake were my goal, I’d be an idiot to not include cream cheese icing…..
I’ve been reading through some of your blogs (remember – just because I’m not commenting doesn’t mean I’m not reading – just think about me as your bloggy mother) and I’m picking up on some words that have my skin crawling. “My mojo is missing.” “I’m burning out.” “I’m tired.” All these are like knives being thrown at me. Why? Because all those feelings are still fresh in my mind.
Any of my long time followers know what I’m talking about. The last time I seriously trained was for the L.A. Marathon. 2010. Yes. Like over a year ago. During that training cycle something broke. Not just physically. I got the car started several times in the past year, but I never did much more than admire the paint job before pulling it back in the garage.
Now, before we take the “Blog Mom” role too far, I’m not going to lecture you on what to do to combat burnout. I will tell you what has worked for me though. Honesty. That’s right. Realizing that running is not something that I love. I no longer stress at missing a day. Or of not being able to run three miles right now without walking.
So – here are my words of wisdom – be honest with yourself. We all “love” running. But do we really? Or do we do it because it’s easy? Because we have a training plan that takes all the thought out of it? Think about it. Be honest with yourself. Don’t be part of the “Mindlessness is our normal state of mind” camp.
Anne and Irene – I think I finally understand what you two were telling me many many moons ago…..
Hopefully we’ll still be rocking like this in our 60’s*!
* Some of us are closer than we might want to admit
** Overheard in the row behind me: “Who is this guy? He’s pretty good.” “I don’t know. Walter something or other. Not really sure who he is.”
I turned to see a couple of twenty somethings. I felt like giving them a history lesson – Canned Heat, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Coco Montoya, etc***. But before I said anything I decided that it might be a waste of breath.
*** Be honest. How many of you know who I’m talking about?
Have this kind of energy a month away from our 86th birthday….
Seen at the Orange County Fair on Sunday, August 14th, 2011. Lucille in action….
Two days of running this week. I am heading out soon for day 3. Well. Okay. It’s not really running. Yet. More like a waddle. But I’ll get there. Eventually.
While I was out, I was thinking about the fact that several of my out of town runner friends have recently visited Southern California lately. But why? I decided to put this little public service video together:
So, if it has crossed your mind, don’t *even* think about moving to Newport Beach. Believe me. The downsides just don’t make it worth moving here….
I’m starting tomorrow.* And my last excuse has been taken from me with the discovery of my HRM strap. Now I can train efficiently**.
Are you coming back from an injury or a lengthy absence? Just getting started? Why don’t you join me? I swear that if you follow the plan that I am, we’ll all be better off in a few months.
This week: Starting from scratch:
* No. My dusting of my right shoulder isn’t because of dandruff.
** Now for the editorial:
I always get all kinds of comments about the virtues or lack thereof of heart rate based training. All I know is that it worked for my kids when two of them were serious athletes (two rowers in my family). I’ll address the whole heart rate vs. effort based training in a few weeks when my runs start lengthening out.
Things have been quiet on the workout front. Like real quiet. Like I’ve been buried in though. Imagine Good Glenn on my left shoulder, and Bad Glenn on my right:
Good Glenn: “You know, you’re not getting skinnier by not getting your lazy ass out of the house."
Bad Glenn: “Yeah. That’s true. But I’ve waited for so long. What’s one more day?”
GG: “One more day! You know one of your favorite races is coming up in one month. How can you expect to Run to The Top of Baldy if you don’t get in shape! Like now!”
BG: “Big deal. You can’t afford it anyways.”
GG: “What about starting next week then. Just a couple miles a day like “normal” runners (thinly veiled Lauren reference).”
BG: “Meh. In the meantime, why don’t we watch some tube?”
To which I rolled over and turned the TV on. For whatever reason , the Versus HD network was on (must have been a replay of the 2011 World Series of Poker the night before) and an episode of the Jeep World of Adventure Sports was on. The episode? A replay of the 2007 Western States Endurance Run. This isn’t it, but it does a great job of capturing the “why”:
This, my friends, is what it’s all about. Screw the clock. I just hope I rolled over far enough on my right side…..
