Reached 50... miles for a week
No, it's not Olympic gold, not even Olympic, period.My weekly mileage would amount almost to a week off for the high-caliber distance runners who have performed and will perform in the Olympics currently in progress.
But for me, it represents the fulfillment of a goal I set in late May/early June: a fifty-mile week by the end of August.
Many sources on running tout the performance benefits of increasing running mileage, although some disagree about whether older athletes (50s+) might also experience a down side in the form of increased risk of injury. And since my average weekly mileage tended to be closer to 25-30, I knew I needed to strike a balance between increasing the number and overdoing. The hundred plus miles per week that mark the regular schedules of elite athletes would be unrealistic for me, certainly not in a single summer, if at all.
But fifty miles--probably taking me as long as it would take an elite athlete to cover twice the mileage--seemed like a reasonable goal, and I take a lot of satisfaction in making that goal.
What have I learned/gained? When I finished my last lap on the rutted middle school track this morning, there was no flag to drape around me. There were no witnesses, no crowds cheering, no medal ceremony... just me and the rutted track. And yet I felt a quiet kind of thanksgiving and joy that I had reached a milestone. As a way of giving something back, I picked up some litter on the track and dropped it into a trash can. And enjoyed a leisurely walk home. And at home... a Zone bar and a cup of coffee.
I admit I e-mailed my coach--not even sure why, since, as stated, my mileage is pedestrian compared to his faster runners, and really wasn't it a personal goal, not one he'd had any stake in setting? I doubt very much it could impress him. And yet I needed for him to know I'd done it. I needed him to know I had stuck to my goal and realized it. Yet I always have my doubts about whether I deserve any attention from him--and also always hope that I do..
In truth, perhaps I actually should get more realistic about my possibilities as an athlete. Let's be honest. even in my age group, many, many women are faster than I am.
I am injury-prone. I am struggling with other issues in my life. What, honestly, does reaching my humble goal really mean? To others, not really all that much. I haven't discovered a cure for cancer, written a Pulitzer Prize winning book, won a marathon, etc. etc. Some--myself included--would wonder why dwell on this small achievement at all.
But I do think we need to take some satisfaction, celebrate our victories, even the small ones. Some of us--especially women, I think--become too used to dismissing successes, reaching them, yes, but thinking, "if I did this, it's not all that special, is it?" But how productive is such thinking? Does it inspire us and give us confidence to set more goals and reach for them?
I think there's a middle path somewhere, and I remember a rabbi expressing it well--I can't remember his name, and my apologies to him for that--but he wrote a religion column some years ago for the Inquirer--and talked about true humility as standing at your full height and looking at the stars. Not being boastful and inflating one's achievements, but not bowing down and pretending to be smaller... just taking satisfaction in one's successes even as one gazes on the immensity of the universe.
I feel very fortunate, very grateful to be able to run. When I run, if I am smart, I learn to pay attention--to the high pitched cries of hawks, to red-winged blackbirds, to wet pine needles, to peacock sightings... And while I'm pleased to have run the mileage I did this week, I'm also grateful that it means I have had more opportunities to pay attention to what matters.
Even small steps move us forward.
***
For those who might want to know...
A quick run-down (excuse the pun) of how it played out this week:
Sun. 14 miles easy although I threw in a mile near the end at marathon goal pace
Mon. 5 miles
Tues. a.m. 7 miles; p.m. 6 miles. Evening workout was 2 miles easy, including run to start of group workout.... then the following repeats interspersed with 1/4 mile jog recoveries: 1/4 mile 2:10; 1/2 mile 4:29; 3/4 mile 6:42; 1/2 mile 4:24; 1/4 mile 2:06; then a mile cool-down.
Wed. 4.5 miles w/ 6 x 100 strides
Thurs. 8 miles w/ 2 miles at 18:17, a mile easy, then a mile with 400 hard (2:02), 100 easy, 300 hard (1:26), 200 easy, 200 hard (56), 300 easy, 100 hard (26). 2 miles each before and after this workout
Friday easy 2.5
Sat. easy 3
I was, let's say, VERY glad I had front loaded enough miles to give myself the two easy days, because tomorrow I want to run 15. Next week and the week after, I plan to take the mileage down a bit, then go back to 50, the first week in Sept. (starting with a 17-miler Labor Day weekend). After that again, I want to taper two weeks leading to the Philly Distance Run.
***
It seems there are two runners in me. There's one who sometimes forgets the numbers and concentrates on what happens IN me during runs. And there is a competitor, who is constantly adding up the numbers, calculating the distance, setting specific speed and mileage goals.
You might expect me to like the first runner better, but in reality I embrace them both. The second runner pushes the first one out the door on those days when she is reluctant for whatever reason (lack of confidence or energy or whatever). The second runner asks me to expand my limits and my sense of what I can do. The first--when awakened--lends her imagination to the enterprise, celebrates it in stories or poetry. Let the second runner dominate, and the poetry is lost, but if the second runner isn't present, it's too easy to get lost in daydreams. Thoreau said, I believe, "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. Now put foundations under them"--thus recognizing the need for both the castles and the foundations.
posted by DPMcManus @ 9:49 AM
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