No desire to run today. I feel quite good physically, I'm just not interested in running.
3 comments:
Anonymous
said...
You forgot more about running in the last week than most people will know in a lifetime.
We tend to have a way of overcomplicating things as athletes.
For whatever reason, we also refuse to apply objectivity to our own work. This applies in many fields/professions.
I look at the world of finance and almost laugh at the number of very smart finance guys who proceed to blow themselves up because they "don't listen to their own advice."
I'm pretty darn convinced that most times we know what to do but for whatever reason, we just don't listen to our own advice that we would give (even to a total stranger for free).
For giggles, go over and read Matt Fitzgerald's blog http://triathlon.competitor.com/blogs/another-lesson-learned-the-hard-way.html . Here's a guy that literally "wrote the book(s) on running" and still goes out time and time again and either injures himself or blows himself to smithereens. And I don't say that in a bad way about Matt because the guy is awesome about sharing knowledge with everyone and the world of running/athletics is a much better place because of good guys like Matt.
Write the plan, log the data, review the data, make appropriate changes, race/test, repeat.
If you were coaching another but reviewing your own data/logbook/performance, what advice would you give to that person?
I am long time admirer of yours. It is easy to be angry at your coach and I am not saying you don't have a right to be. In reading your blogs over the years, I have noticed a couple of things. The first is that you sometimes devolve into these periods of time when you get negative on yourself and this negativity seems to spiral downwards for some period of time before you pull out of it. I want to say it is psychological but I truly mean that descriptively and not pejoratively. Like when you had the massage before the marathon. I am sure you were physical skewed, but you seemed to be psycologically more so. The second observation I have is that you sometimes seem to have arbitrary success metrics in addition to your real goals. Getting to 100 miles in a week. The eleveation gains of a run. The number of feet over sea level. All of these are objective stats that make you effing awesome. But you seem, subconciously, to focus on those hard core metrics. At the end of the day, you have set for yourself a goal on race day. There will be peaks and valleys, successes and failures, but it is always helpful to keep it in perspective.
I mean these comments with the greatest of respect for you as a athlete and a person. I look up to you and am not seeking to knock you down with these observations.
Paul- Yep.. you're exactly right. Especially with running which is quite simple. I love your saying about finances- "As you will see, achieving financial security is simple…it just isn’t easy." This could be true for our sports too. You sum it up perfectly and I may write this in my training logs- "Write the plan, log the data, review the data, make appropriate changes, race/test, repeat." Perfect.
Anonymous- Cheers and thank you for the good word. Agreed that I do fall in to 'low' times, as I see every athlete do. My blog is my journal and nearly my only outlet for my thoughts on running. I write what I feel and I hope people can relate on some level. I am hard on myself and I see very clearly my faults, particularly my inconsistency in holding a level outlook. Not sure of "arbitrary success metrics in addition to your real goals." My only goal has been to run under 2:20 with smaller goals along the way and success markers are needed in order to make sure I am heading in the right direction. I'm quite analytical and I keep a close eye on progress, when I see a down turn in my tests or certain "markers" then I am of course skeptical. I have been at (just) running for a few years now and am still struggling with finding what works for me. A large part of my disappointment in my "coach" isn't the schedule itself, it's the methodology in how that schedule has come about... it's not based on any knowledge of me (the schedules have not been written for me) nor is the communication up to my own standards. If I knew I had to lower my standards then I wouldn't have hired him. I will be the first to say that nearly all of my issues stem from being psychologically delicate and I'm frustrated with this. Finding the solution however is difficult. If I could flip a switch and change it I would. I hear what you're saying and I appreciate your honesty, but I too am simply being honest and I am far from being perfect. I have issues, lots of them. Rather than try to be someone I'm not and write just the happy thoughts, I've chosen to just write with out edit. Thanks again! T
3 comments:
You forgot more about running in the last week than most people will know in a lifetime.
We tend to have a way of overcomplicating things as athletes.
For whatever reason, we also refuse to apply objectivity to our own work. This applies in many fields/professions.
I look at the world of finance and almost laugh at the number of very smart finance guys who proceed to blow themselves up because they "don't listen to their own advice."
I'm pretty darn convinced that most times we know what to do but for whatever reason, we just don't listen to our own advice that we would give (even to a total stranger for free).
For giggles, go over and read Matt Fitzgerald's blog http://triathlon.competitor.com/blogs/another-lesson-learned-the-hard-way.html . Here's a guy that literally "wrote the book(s) on running" and still goes out time and time again and either injures himself or blows himself to smithereens. And I don't say that in a bad way about Matt because the guy is awesome about sharing knowledge with everyone and the world of running/athletics is a much better place because of good guys like Matt.
Write the plan, log the data, review the data, make appropriate changes, race/test, repeat.
If you were coaching another but reviewing your own data/logbook/performance, what advice would you give to that person?
Lucho--
I am long time admirer of yours. It is easy to be angry at your coach and I am not saying you don't have a right to be. In reading your blogs over the years, I have noticed a couple of things. The first is that you sometimes devolve into these periods of time when you get negative on yourself and this negativity seems to spiral downwards for some period of time before you pull out of it. I want to say it is psychological but I truly mean that descriptively and not pejoratively. Like when you had the massage before the marathon. I am sure you were physical skewed, but you seemed to be psycologically more so. The second observation I have is that you sometimes seem to have arbitrary success metrics in addition to your real goals. Getting to 100 miles in a week. The eleveation gains of a run. The number of feet over sea level. All of these are objective stats that make you effing awesome. But you seem, subconciously, to focus on those hard core metrics. At the end of the day, you have set for yourself a goal on race day. There will be peaks and valleys, successes and failures, but it is always helpful to keep it in perspective.
I mean these comments with the greatest of respect for you as a athlete and a person. I look up to you and am not seeking to knock you down with these observations.
Paul- Yep.. you're exactly right. Especially with running which is quite simple. I love your saying about finances- "As you will see, achieving financial security is simple…it just isn’t easy." This could be true for our sports too.
You sum it up perfectly and I may write this in my training logs- "Write the plan, log the data, review the data, make appropriate changes, race/test, repeat." Perfect.
Anonymous- Cheers and thank you for the good word. Agreed that I do fall in to 'low' times, as I see every athlete do. My blog is my journal and nearly my only outlet for my thoughts on running. I write what I feel and I hope people can relate on some level. I am hard on myself and I see very clearly my faults, particularly my inconsistency in holding a level outlook. Not sure of "arbitrary success metrics in addition to your real goals." My only goal has been to run under 2:20 with smaller goals along the way and success markers are needed in order to make sure I am heading in the right direction. I'm quite analytical and I keep a close eye on progress, when I see a down turn in my tests or certain "markers" then I am of course skeptical. I have been at (just) running for a few years now and am still struggling with finding what works for me. A large part of my disappointment in my "coach" isn't the schedule itself, it's the methodology in how that schedule has come about... it's not based on any knowledge of me (the schedules have not been written for me) nor is the communication up to my own standards. If I knew I had to lower my standards then I wouldn't have hired him.
I will be the first to say that nearly all of my issues stem from being psychologically delicate and I'm frustrated with this. Finding the solution however is difficult. If I could flip a switch and change it I would.
I hear what you're saying and I appreciate your honesty, but I too am simply being honest and I am far from being perfect. I have issues, lots of them. Rather than try to be someone I'm not and write just the happy thoughts, I've chosen to just write with out edit.
Thanks again!
T
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