One shot to qualify for Boston.
One shot to make it on the Olympic Marathon team.
One shot to PR.
Months and months of training lead up to one perfect race. As runners, we don't get the the best out of 7, or 3 tries and the best time counts.
We get one shot.
We fail, and we escape with knowledge of what we can do better the next time around. While there is always another race, if we are training like we should then that very peak performance will happen at most a couple of times a year. Those aren't great odds for an athlete.
Hard work, dedication. Dedication, hard work.
So, I'll hit the bike hard again tonight and hope that Thursday I can hit the hills instead.
The author of the article concludes saying, "Try running EVERYDAY for 9 months and tell me how you feel, tell me how motivated you are, tell me how your confidence levels are. After that it will be understood why track can just be hell on the body and mind."
Our sport is work, but it's a work I really love.
And for the record:
Tank for Wasatch Back team- $22.99
Protein Powder- $51.77
RUNNING total: 480.54
7 comments:
You're so right. Running is so mental and I'm sorry you're missing workouts. Try not to wig though. Cross training counts for a ton. Just do your best and things will fall into place. I totally feel ya on the burnout aspect of intense training though. Hang in there.
When I was thinking about signing up and training for my 1st marathon, I kept hearing from books (and Spirit of the Marathon) that "the race is like the prize. all of the training and running leading up to the race is the rewarding part."
I totally agree! And when you think about it, so many little things could mess up plans on the big day.
You train for 9 months and then.....it's hot on race day, or it rains on race day, or it's windy on race day, or you caught a cold the day before race day. And then Boston/Olympics/PR....bye bye.
I really try to not let myself worry about all those little "what if's". I control the things I can control and nevermind the rest. (Sometimes much easier said than done!)
I saw this article too because several of our wrestling friends posted it. Your post reflected so much of what I felt about what the author said about running.
I saw this article too. Really helps put the emphasis on appreciating and enjoying all of the training instead of everything on the actual race itself. The your hard work always feels SO good :)
Hoping you are hitting the hills on Thursday lady!! Fingers crossed for you.
Love this!!! Seriously so so true we work so hard, day after day, for one shot. But you know what we wouldn't keep doing it if we didn't love it. And to me it is all worth that one shot. It is all about perspective and realizing that if you miss that "one shot" there will be another opportunity.
Thinking about you and hoping you get to hit those hills soon. :)
Lemme tell ya!!!....I was watching the Biggest Loser last night and I looked over at my husband and said "if I was rich, I would hire Dolvette to yell at me all day long!".
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