SwStudio wrote:
> I will probably phase out competetive running over the next few months because I'm sick of
> embarassing myself and paying money to feel shitty. I've been at it for close to four years now
> and it's obvious I don't have the genetics or whatever it takes to run faster than a 90 year old
> with no legs. Plus all my PR's were set within a year or so of starting to run. Runners don't
> 'plateau' for 3 effing years.
>
David, You've already had a lot of good comments and suggestions. Mine is mostly reinforcing some of
those. My time frames might be a little off, but my recollection is you were running some pretty
good times about the time I started here, about 3 yr ago, and an inspiration to many of us. IIRC,
you've had some injury and health issues, but more importantly your band and cutting a CD took
priority for awhile - as it should have. It seems like you've just started training seriously again
fairly recently (6 months or so?). I think you just started with your 2nd coach (or is it your 1st).
FWIW, I don't see a 3-yr plateau there. I see a fairly recent return to serious training after maybe
a 1-yr break and lots of other interruptions even when you were being more consistent. Or perhaps an
interrupted learning curve, but not a plateau. Like it or not, we're all human - even you
You
can't step aside from training and expect to resume where you were. (my remembrance of time spans
and extent of breaks may be off)
Also, people respond differently to different kinds of training. You may not have gotten the results
you wanted from your best guess at what works for you. Now you've tried 1 or 2 coaches, but not sure
for how long. They may not get it right the first time either. We are all experiments of one (sorry
for the cliche). While some coaches may be more gifted than others at recognizing things that work
or don't work, I'm not sure it's realistic to expect instantaneous results from anyone
- you or your coaches. You may need to sit down with yourself and/or coach and figure out what's not
working, if anything. It could be something as simple as still having some pressures from rest of
life that's interfering or health. Or maybe you're expecting things to happen too fast. Dunno.
I know my goals and priorities are very different from yours, but I'm also looking for a routine
that works. I think I've found something that seems to be working for me now (at least as long as we
have snow). Will it work in the long term? I dunno, and I won't until I try it at least 1 yr (all
seasons). But I view it as a 3-yr learning experience that I hope goes on for another 30 or 40 (ok,
maybe 15-25 is more realistic in my case). I'll always be a beginner - beginning to learn something
new. And I hope I maintain that attitude in everything as long as I live. Yea, I'd love to be able
to scamper up Lazy Mt (3000ft vertical of 20-30% slopes) tomorrow, but it's not going to happen in
the next year or two or so (and I suspect never to actually "scamper" up). But I'm not going to let
that time frame deter me from doing the best I can to reach goals in time frames within the
constraints of what my body can handle. I've had to adjust goals and time frames as I've learned.
I'd rather adjust expectations and training than quit. I'm sure your body is more resilient than
mine
, but the principles are the same.
There are no problems - only challenges and opportunities. You'll rise to meet these challenges, as
you've done in the past. You just need to figure out how to do it.
Dot March 2 is the 3rd anniversary of my first logged run so I've been reflecting about some
things lately.
--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope