I've talked about the marathon a lot before. It is a race that consists of thousands of hours training for, hundreds of miles ran, countless hours of strength training, hill training, speed work, tempo runs, and the list could go on and on.
I would like to talk about finding yourself in those rough training days. Whether you are training for a marathon, half marathon, triathlon, or any endurance competition. I know that we have all had them. What do we do? Quit? Give up? Keep pushing through?
This can happen on any given training day. Short runs, long runs, speed work or even strength training work. I am a big believer in listening to your body. Do not mistake me here, if you are listening to your body and giving it what it needs, your body will give you more on race day if you respect it during training.
There are those training sessions that you need to compete. I usually like to get in three 20-mile runs before a marathon. And some days, you just do not want to run that 20.
I was training for the Big Cottonwood Marathon this past summer. Each Saturday morning, my alarm would go off at 4:30 and I would start the long drive up the canyon. I would run the course of the marathon every Saturday for 4 months. My training was right where I wanted it to be. I was hitting my goal pace times. In fact I was exceeding my goals! I was dreaming big for the outcome of this race!
One Saturday, I went up the canyon and I just knew that this was not going to be a good day to run a 20-miler. I had not slept well the night before, not properly fueled, probably dehydrated, it was cold and so dark. So many excuses. It was about mile 14 when the pain really hit. I checked out mentally. I thought to myself that I could just call it quits. I could run the 20-miler next weekend. My stomach was acting up, my legs were not moving and I was far from hitting my pace. I had so many excuses to just throw in the towel.
Then I pictured myself out on the race course, in the middle of a bad patch in the marathon and remembered one bad mile can’t define your race, but fighting through to find one good mile can make it.
I ended up pushing through and completed my 20 miler. No, it was not my fastest time, but I did it.
Bad days will happen in training cycles. They are inevitable. There are going to be days in which weather conditions, lack of sleep, poor fueling, dehydration, etc. are going to make for good excuses to throw in the towel on a bad workout.
Letting go of your goal time and just getting through the workout is far greater practice than quitting. My fitness was there but my mental game was weak. On that training day, I strengthen my mind rather than my body. I think I fought to train another day.
Happy Running Friends,
Kylie
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