The more I know, the less I know I know. Know what I mean? I’ve been a student, historian, athlete, and administrator in running over the last 30 years and am completely comfortable now admitting that I’ll never know everything there is about the sport. That is part of what makes running magical and mystical.
I’ve learned so much in the last 15 weeks under Killer Coach, more new and subtle nuances to training, greater understanding of the synapses that occur in the major muscle groups. Building mass and speed in my legs that belie my years. But more importantly increasing the neurological pathways between my ears. The mantra I borrowed from the late, great Andy Palmer “The Mind Is The Athlete” is still the base of my own personal training philosophy. That foundation has now expanded to an even more solid paradigm. I’m more certain and relaxed in my training and racing than ever before.
What I once would have thought ridiculous, if not impossible, now comes with an easy confidence. To wit: The 25K Champs on Saturday, 10 miles easy on Sunday, 4K repeats @ 6:50 pace on Monday, 20 miles of fartlek on Tuesday, and 16 X 1/4 @ :90 with :50 recovery on Wednesday. I mentioned in this column back in January that this training program was like opening a textbook, that if you went to the middle or end of the book, you’d be very skeptical that the work described could actually be done with your current experience/education.
And now with just over 4 weeks left of the 19 week program, I easily tackle the most difficult of assignments. Confident that I’ll be able to achieve the prescribed efforts and results. Yesterday’s set of quarters were the final confirmation, maybe the best all around set of .25’s I’ve ever run. Not the fastest, or the most, but given the workload of the previous 5 days, giving me the greatest sense of encouragement and accomplishment. A reward for all of the adversities endured through this, the most difficult of training cycles I’ve ever experienced. In 30 years of running.
And make no mistake. This has been by far most strenuous and taxing and exhilarating. More miles in a given period of time, less days off, harder challenges, and more successes. At age 54. I can only hope that someday you too have the opportunity to delve this deep into your core, whether it be running or writing or mountain climbing or tilting at whatever windmill is your particular passion. The chance to look into the very depths of yourself and know that you’ve given something your Very Best Effort. That you weren’t afraid to tackle the seemingly impossible. To conquer, and maybe even to fail, but to try. To really live.
This training cycle has been nothing less than that for me, I Know this for sure.
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