Monday, March 6, 2017

Running lessons: Tough times make us stronger

Another week of training gone and, with just 12 weeks until Cabot Trail Relay, I'm beginning to feel a tad nervous.  So far, I've managed to complete all the long weekend runs on my schedule but I've been much less consistent about midweek runs. 

Last week, for instance, I only ran 3k on Tuesday evening before slowing to a walk because I was feeling woozy. I'm not sure what the problem was - maybe tired from all the running the week before (37k in total) or maybe fighting a bug of some kind. Thank goodness my energy returned to normal this weekend - especially given the challenges posed by the weather. 

Let me back up. The weekend before last was fantastic for running - spring-like with mild temperatures, little wind, and fog no less! I had to strip down to my running bra at the midpoint of my 8k on Saturday morning fun.  Seriously!


Since the weather was so mild, Husband and I headed down river for a walk on Risser's Beach in the afternoon. There wasn't much to see but it was mellow wandering along listening to the waves and shaking out my legs in preparation for my long run the next day.




Sunday morning, I crawled out of bed earlier than usual and headed to Prince's Inlet to join my buddy David's for a favourite run out to Second Peninsula and back. This is Dave at our turnaround point at Bachman's Beach. I didn't bother to try to take other photos since it was still so foggy.


The run was "easier" than some I've done lately because the weather was so lovely and there were many fewer hills involved but, at 17k, it still felt challenging - maybe because we ran early enough that I didn't have time to stretch properly first. In any case, it was - as always - great fun running with David and catching up on his news.

By contrast, this past weekend's runs were much tougher. Husband and I set out after breakfast Saturday morning, intending to do 8k up river and back, but the wind was so strong and cold we turned back after about a kilometre and finished our run in Peace Park, where we could be out of the the wind for the most part. By the time we'd finished two circuits of the park, Husband had had enough so we headed back to town, where he dropped me so I could run a last few kilometres back to the house before calling it a day.

The forecast was for calmer weather yesterday but, unfortunately, the forecast was wrong. We woke up to only marginally warmer temperatures (-7C) and even stronger wind. I couldn't imagine tackling my planned workout, which would have involved fighting heavy headwinds for six 500-metre climbs up Logan Street hill. Instead, I opted to do my hill repeats on a 500 metre stretch of Aberdeen Rd., which was mostly out of the wind.

Even with little wind, those six hills felt hard. After completing just two, the gremlins in my head were having a field day - loudly insisting I was too damned old to run North Mountain and might as well throw in the towel now, walk home and plop myself down by the fire for the afternoon. Fortunately, after training for nearly 30 long distance races, I've learned a few tricks for dealing with the little blighters. "First off," I growled under my breath, "I am not too old!  Second, every one of these climbs will only last 3 and 4 minutes - which is no time at all. Third, plenty of people have way worse things to deal with than this - illness, depression, addiction, breakups. If they can deal with their stuff for weeks and months at a time, I can most certainly run uphill for half an hour! So bugger off and leave me alone!" Which they did.

Of course, it helped that I could feel the training starting to pay off. The hills felt easier than they have in a few of years. If I stick to my training plan, there's every reason to hope I'll be strong enough to run leg 9 in a reasonable time. I just need to be patient and keep working.

Ahhhh...there's another of those wonderful lessons that resonate in the rest of my life. The reality is that many of the best thing in life only become possible through concerted and consistent effort - fulfilling relationships, satisfying work, and good health - to name just a few. Of course, you might be lucky enough to have some of those things drop in your lap but mostly you have to work for them.

Another lesson is that it's often the tough times that make you stronger and happier in the long run. Sure, I might have preferred mild, calm conditions for this weekend's runs but the cold and wind made for more intense workouts overall and forced me to confront my gremlin so, as training runs go, they were actually pretty awesome.  In life it's the same. Shit happens and you can't imagine  you'll ever get through it, but you do. And usually you end up wiser, stronger and more confident because of it - which is also pretty awesome.

And, with that, friends, it's time to curl up by the fire to read a bit before bed.  Hope spring is in the air wherever you are. Happy running and writing.

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