Motivation: I’m gettin slow and I love it
July 17, 2007 — Joe EnglishI just came from a lunch meeting with my good friend and colleague Coach Dean Hebert. Dean and I have been collaborating for some time and you may have noticed the link to his new blog from my blog. Coach Dean is a very performance oriented coach and we got to talking today about my own training.
It was a funny conversation, because Dean works with a lot of 2:30:00 marathon runners and here I am talking about the fact that I’ve been slowing down and that I love it. He thought that was funny too. But we both agreed that it was a good thing.
See, when I started training for this ultramarathon (read the associated posts in the Ultrarunning category of my blog), I slowed down. Way down. I know that I can’t run 6:30 miles for 50 miles, especially on trails, so I’ve taken the pace down a little. . . OK, maybe it’s more like a lot. We go out and run 8:30s and 10:30s and even walk some 15:30s here and there, when they’re uphill anyway. They’re slow miles. Much slower than we COULD run them. But that’s the pace we NEED to run to make it through this insane stretch of trail.
The ephiany I had while talking to Coach Dean today is that its OK to take a break from the speed for awhile. I left the 6:00 minute miles behind to take on a new challenge, one in which I try to run further, over tougher terrain, than I ever have. And that’s a worthy challenge.
Will the 6:00s come back? Sure. Later. Right now, I’m OK setting the treadmill to some slower pace and just letting the miles pass me by. That’s what THIS goal requires. So that’s OK.
I won’t be the fastest runner out there at the White River. I just hope that I finish the course before the time limit. But that’s OK too.
Sure Uli Steidl, winner of the Seattle Marathon for some number of years now, will blast through the course and maybe run 50 tough trail miles in 6 hours and some minutes. That’s great. I’ll be in an aid station somewhere at mile 30 when he’s finishing. But if I make it through this race in one piece, then I’ll have a new experience to build something out of. Maybe the next one will be faster.
I know that many of you are first time marathoners, training for a first event. You may be reading this thinking, “that’s really not that slow Joe.” But the point of all of this is that we needn’t always be in a hurry. There are times when we may do a race that isn’t our fastest. It might not be anywhere near as fast as we can run. And that’s just fine.
One of my best memories in finishing a marathon came in the PF Chang’s Arizona Marathon a few years ago. I had been hell bent on setting a new PR at that race, but the wheels came off early that day and I spent some time walking. When I got to the finish-line, I spotted my two year-old nephew in the crowd. I picked him up out my sister’s arms and carried him with me across the finish. I was able to do this, because I wasn’t concerned about my time anymore. If I’d been racing to shave a second or two off my time, I would have missed that great memory, and he would have missed it too. Its something that he remembers, because we just talked about it the other day.
So I’m slow right now and I’m lovin’ it. Dean’s convinced that he’ll have me running a 2:37:00 marathon next year. OK Dean, we’ll get there. But right now, let’s just take this one step at a time.
Keep it all in perspective folks. Have goals for your races and your training. Don’t try to rush it. A few months or a year may seem like a long time, but it’s not in the grand scheme of things. Take it in steps and keep at it. Over time you’ll get there. Just don’t be in a hurry.
Coach Joe
Running Wild with Coach Joe – a blog focused on marathon, triathlon and ultra-endurance racing, training and motivation. Bookmark us at http://coachjoeenglish.wordpress.com or use your favorite RSS feed reader to get the latest news and articles. Running Wild is also available on Yahoo! 360 and My Space.
Joe English
coachdeanhebert
teejford
July 18, 2007 at 6:01 am
Morning Coach!
I think it’s great that you are open to variety in your running career and have the athletic capacity to run various ways. Makes for a lot more all around fun and satisfaction, I’m sure.
Tracy
July 19, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Hi Coach Joe!
I truly enjoyed reading your shift in perception about speed. I am already slow, so don’t need to work on “getting there.”
Last month, my husband Bob and I participated in the Pacific Crest Half Ironman with the Team in Training. Bob won his age group! This was a first for him and we were literally jumping up and down when we saw the results in the morning. He said that the only thing he ever won in his entire life was a pie eating contest when he was in sixth grade.
As for me, I was the last person across the finish line. I loved every moment of the race. It was one of my favorite events ever because of the Team, the coaches, the scenery and the people from Sunriver.
While out on the bike, I began to notice butterflies on the course. At first, there was one here, one there, every so often, but by the time I got to the aid station, there were dozens flying around. I said to the volunteer, who was standing in a swirl of butterflies, “Wow, this must be the butterfly stop!”
He replied, “They just appeared moments ago. I don’t know where they came from.”
As I continued on, I decided to begin counting them. I had an elaborate system for counting. They had to appear to me. I couldn’t go look for them. If I saw one peripherally and turned my head, but didn’t see it completely, it didn’t count. If I saw it’s shadow on the road, but could see the actual butterfly, it didn’t count. I couldn’t count the same one twice, of course, so I had to be positive it was different or it didn’t count.
I looked at my watch and began to count. 1…….2 (no)….2……3…….4..(no, doesn’t count)……4 After I got to 5, I became distracted, started to think that I was too far behind, wondered where I was and began to play with my little computer. I was checking my pace, how far I had gone, my average speed, etc. when suddenly a butterfly flew right at me and hit my left arm. I saw this one for sure, even felt it. “Okay! I’ll keep counting.” I said out loud, and continued. 6……7……..8 (no) 8…….9……10.
I looked at my watch and exactly 10 minutes had passed. So I started to do the math, which was not easy for me at that moment. All at once I realized that I saw 10 butterflies in 10 minutes, which means “60 Butterflies and Hour!”
“Whoa! I am going 60 butterflies an hour! How cool is that?”
So you can see that I take that whole, “…different drummer” quote by Thoreau to a whole new level.
I’m looking forward to training with you for another season, Joe. Just know that I my pace may be measured in some unique way, like butterflies per hour, for example.
Terry
July 19, 2007 at 1:44 pm
[...] being slow and loving it 19Jul07 A good friend of mine named Terry read my piece on “being slow and loving it.” In the article, one of the points that I was trying to make is that sometimes if [...]