Journey to Greatness: A competitive edge


Miles 34

 Smoothie
1 cup Coconut water
1/2 Lime 
1/2 Cherries
1 Apple
1 table spoon chia
1/4 cup coconut
1 cup water
8 beautiful, glorious, wonderful, renewing hours of sleep.  AND breakfast!  It doesn't get much better than this! It is going to be a great day!  My knee feels good and tomorrow I meet with the running coach!  It is just a meeting…. a little chat…. but I am really excited…..

I just had an amazing run!  ON THE TREADMILL.. say WHAT??? I have been looking forward to my run all day…. and finally I had the time to fit it in!  I hop on the treadmill and instead of 7.5… I put it on 7.0…. I want to enjoy this.  I fall into my pace…. no fresh air, no wind, nothing to look at.  But on the treadmill I notice my body's natural rythm with the run.  At this pace my body is so happy.  The 1,2,1,2 breath in 1,2,1,2 breath out… The succinct sway of my arms…. it is a perfect flawless motion.  It feels fantastic and I am flooded with exhilaration and calmness and it is peaceful...

OK.  SO…...I am not running with all my might, struggling for breath, lungs burning, legs tired, heart beating, head begging me to STOP.  And my knee feels great.  At each mile I ramp up a few until I am at 7.5…..just push a little on that last mile.  And I don't feel like I really accomplished anything.  But I was pretty content doing it.  Hal Higdon writes in his training plan that the pace you should keep is the natural pace of your body… if it hurts… slow down… this will greatly improve the longevity of your running career…. WAIT… am I moving backwards here…. 8 min was a lot closer to 6 than 8:36 … but really tonight I just wanted to enjoy it…. and I did….. not sure that it will make me better to run slower… but kind of liked running happy…. I wonder if maybe winning means more than a shiny medal… maybe it means being happy and proud of myself for the running I am capable of….. think I am losing my competitive edge…..well actually I don't have an edge…. it's more like a sliver…. I am losing my competitive sliver….in my journey to greatness, have I already veered off on the road to mediocracy..?

It is kind of terrifying to think… I may never get a first place…. well that really stinks.  Don't even like the sound of that…... backspace backspace delete…. Tomorrow I meet with the running coach….we will straighten all of this out!  The Geist Race is NOT negotiable.  And a 1:49 is not negotiable either.  That is far from winning, but the one thing I have is patience….. this takes time…. I am willing to give it time…. but  I am not willing to give up my first place ambition.    Everyone that runs must have doubts and fears and ambitions…..I think about running a half marathon… that first mile…. that awful, first, tricky, cruel mile…. as your body struggles at some un natural early hour in the cold….because it is always cold at 6am…..as you are running… fast, trying to find your place in the race, set pace and make time while you can… your head screaming…. turn to the right….get off this course… get in your car, go home and go back to bed!  This hurts….this is awful and we sill have 13 miles……and you are beyond scared…. surly it is imposable….WHAT are you DOING!!!??  and legs are like….oh no we got this… trust us….we trained for this….. and lungs are like WTF and heart is like OMG but legs keep going….. and somehow mile 5 is upon us and head starts to say… ok ok maybe….. and we are good!  Running…going….going….. and who knows what happens until mile 11…. when legs are like ok we are done….. can't do it anymore….. and head is like oh no we got this…. we trained for this….. and somehow it all comes together….. one terrifyingly, awful, fantastic, experience….. and then….. if you are me….. as you cross the finish line ecstatic and happy….you puke……

…. it takes a brave person to run a race…. I know this…. actually it takes a brave person to compete at anything….. Competition is risky….. it is also rewarding, crushing, and humbling….. In running I have learned that there is great success, but also great defeat…. there are races that you will be amazing…you will surpass your goals and believe that you are an awesome runner!!!! That you can do anything!  Then there are races that you will lose…. something won't be right…. it won't go well… you will be devastated…. you will begrudgingly tell yourself there is nothing more you could have done…. you trained so hard…. you will be devastated….and want to give up…..then you will criticize yourself for not trying harder…..

I guess what it comes down to is…..with running OR with anything!!!! You work really hard and go far…… or you don't….. you have these definitive moments in which you have to decide to give it all or hold back…. you win you lose…. and you decide if you give in or keep going…… you fall and you get back up or you don't…… and if you chose to hang it all up….give in to defeat… you will never know what could have been…… it takes courage and strength and perseverance….you  WILL fall down….you will know loss and defeat……it will hurt you, it will be harder than you ever imagined….. but without these moments,  without great sacrifice…. one can never know great victory…..oohhh  I may have found my competitive sliver!
Today's Training

 50 min Bootcamp Class Arms&Abs

Strength training
overhead squats 5x5
#25/#45/#45/#45/#45
Beanch Press 5x3 #70
Power clean 5x3 #65
GHD hamstring curls 3x8
Weighted back extensions 3x5 #3

3 mile run



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