Last week ranks up there with the nuttiest week of training I have ever completed. However, out of respect for my coach’s mastermind and skills, I am not going to include the details of each workout, but I will share that it is a depth of rigor I have not been asked to try (or been able to accomplish in years), but they’re the kind of workouts, stacked all together, that spell out one word, belief.
I know Hillary asked me to do them not just because she believes I can, but that she believes that I believe I can. And I do.
I know, very mystical. Then again, not really.
The recipe is simple: consistent, conscientious planning and daring to push my limits a little more every day.
A celebratory moment with Big Red after finishing a loooong bike ride last Saturday.
Looking back on what has made the greatest impact on my progression to both enjoy and improve as an endurance athlete, two vivid *recent* examples jump to the front of my mind: Logging everything I ate during a heavy training weekend back in May, and experiencing my first ever pain-free stand alone marathon in Surf City earlier this month.
Actually, I didn’t change what I ate too much after that weekend in May, but intentionally paying attention and writing down every morsel I ate has allowed me to make adjustments here and there to be able to sustain my energy day in and day out ever since.
But there so much more is tied to our nutrition. It’s not just physical, we all know what it’s like to be “hangry”, it’s emotionally crushing and not fun in the most cushy circumstances, but when that familiar rage comes on during mile 81 of a 120 mile bike ride, well then it’s really not fun. Or, when you feel like Gumby during the second run of the day, again not optimal. Therefore, planning out and following a fueling strategy that I can see in ink has helped mitigate those wobbly moments of waning energy.
The second example, well that one is really interesting.
Honestly, my ego was knocked back into a corner after running such a slow race in Surf City, still I walked away feeling just fine because it served as the reality check I needed to move on from my double-decades’ long hammer-toe induced painful funk, and appreciate the focused effort that racing a marathon demands. Moreover, the weight I had been carrying on my shoulders by trying to hang on to the runner I was a few years ago finally fell off. Instead of beating myself up for not being able to run like I did that gorgeous Fall day in New York in November, 2018, I was able to look back and be amazed that I was able to run like that at all.
Mile 25ish of Marathon #1, the Rock n' Roll San Diego, June 3rd, 2001.
There is no way twenty-one year old Taryn, the recent college graduate who crossed the finish line of her first marathon in 4:24 hours, would have believed she’d be able to finish a marathon in 3:09 hours seventeen years later. Or, that she’d still be running marathons twenty plus years later... but she is, and I’m sure she’ll be amazed by herself again and again for many years to come.
Post awesome TEMPO run last Thursday.
Well, I’m off for another “Terrific Tuesday” of training, and although I won’t disclose the specifics of the day ahead, there are heavy odds that it will involve water, a bicycle, an historic mountain pass, heaping amounts of Almond Butter, and a treadmill.
The song and video this week is one of my all-time favorites, an 80’s classic, and one that reminds me that we all have all more going than what meets the eye. Enjoy.:)