Last weekend, two of the pro's on the SF team - Amy and April - gave a Q&A session after our regular Sunday Grind class. One of the things they talked about was how stress on your body is stress, no matter where it comes from. Stress at work, a fight with your SO, buying a new house, whatever it is...all add stress to the body just like a hard training session does. And all these things impact your ability to really bring what you need to bring to a hard workout. My brain has been noodling on this all week in the background. I think I've never really given that fact its due. I've always just accepted these stresses as an inevitable part of life. I've recently started rethinking that. I've certainly started to really notice that when things aren't great with hubby, it has a huge negative impact on my training sessions. It's not a connection I've made in the past, probably because I didn't want to deal with what that meant.
One of the things my coach has always drilled into my head is "stay in the moment"..."one mile at a time". Today I started thinking about that in conjunction with the whole stress thing.
I had a long run on the books - longest of the season so far. I was not in the best place today, and really struggled to get out for my run. My plan of an 8am start was definitely not happening. I finally dragged myself out there at 11am, and it was truly gorgeous out (...and I need to train in as much "heat" as I can with San Juan only 5 weeks out). I struggled the first 5.5 miles. Couldn't get my mind off the situation at home. Started getting cramps pretty bad about mile 4 and they would not go away. I stopped for a gel at mile 5.5 -- don't normally stop for a gel but I was not feeling this run. My pace was okay, and the first 5.5 was supposed to be zone 1-2 so nothing lost to this point. The next 5 miles were to be at race pace, and I knew I'd struggle with this if I didn't change something. So I pretty much just handed over the whole mess to the universe and let it go. I focused on this moment. Not how many miles were left, not how I was going to get through another x miles, not what to do about life, just RIGHT NOW. I cherished the feel of the sun on my skin, I thought about my form, I listened to my breathing. Nothing else. And you know what - the cramps went away, and I ran the next 5 miles faster than I thought I would, with each mile better than the last. 11.5 miles done in what seemed like no time.
"Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure." (Oprah)
"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past or worry about the future, but to live in the present moment." (Buddhist quote)
No doubt about it - I now believe the beauty of the long run is the time to think about nothing but what is going on right in that moment. Thank you universe for the confirmation. And today's lesson from training, as is so often the case, is amplified in Life - treasure what's going on right now. It's all we can really grasp and all that really matters.
Happy training everyone. Stay in the Moment!
Kat
No comments:
Post a Comment