Something new

I've been reading.  Yes, I know I said there wasn't much about running to read on your down time.  I was wrong.  There's plenty.  The problem is if you don't think like a runner, you don't know where to look for runner stuff.  So, I put my head in the oven and didn't drink anything for 36 hours.  That left me pretty much suffering from heat stroke and dehydration so I found it very possible to...    just kidding.

 

I discovered that I had been going at all of this training stuff all wrong.  I had been approaching it like a cyclist, not an endurance "athlete".  Let me explain.

When I ride I take the same routes and the same courses.  I tweak little things here and there and try to grind out the ride 1 second faster, 1 mile and hour faster, a faster sprint, a longer sprint, and generally never, ever, ever, give up any ground to the previous performance marks.  16 mile rides at full speed from the chutes, 24 mile rides with intermediate sprints, or "long" 30 to 50 mile rides with a consistently high average (18-20mph) was always the goal.  If I couldn't hit 1 mark, I'd aim for another.

But that doesn't work with endurance running.

 

The goal isn't FASTER, it's FARTHER.

Until I get competitive, I'm not trying to beat anyone except myself.  It's me versus the road.  The road wants to be driven on.  I want to run it.  It will try to beat me.  I will overcome it.  The miles are laid out before me.  I will run them.  I don't have to run them quickly.  I just have to maintain 13:45 or better for each mile in order to finish.  I just have to place my left foot 36 inches past my right foot, and then my right foot 36 inches past that...  47,000 times.

 

I hate running.

 

I hate failure more than I hate running.

 

I will complete this.