The Big Day is HERE
My Week in Training: May 4-11
The Aim
Good morning beautiful people. It’s time to reveal the surprise.
I’ve teased for the past months about a big training day that I’ve been working up to.
All my weekly training posts are linked at the bottom so you can see the progression and how I’ve built my mind, body, and spirit towards this day.
Today is that day. I’ve ran, lifted, stretched, endured, and built towards this day for months.
Now it’s time to put it to the test and see what I can do.
I’ll be running what I call the ‘Pirate King of the Suburbs Marathon’ today while my kids are in school. This is a special marathon challenge I’ve created for myself. I will share details in a write up on the effort tomorrow. For now, just now it’s not as easy as just running 26.2 miles (as if that is EVERY EASY)
My legs are strong, my cardio is peak, my running form is dialed in. All that’s left to do is go out and perform.
Given that I didn’t have a specific date on the calendar for this effort, I’m excited the day is here but also a nonchalant.
These informal, created by you, one of a kind types of ‘races’ have a different feel than big time formal races (I’m heading to one this weekend to live coach 20+ athletes!).
This last week was all about prepping for this big day, but not going too far out of routine to prepare for it.
How did I do?
The Execution
I wanted to taper a little bit but not too much. My training hasn’t left me feeling drained or sore so I didn’t want to take too much off.
My first three runs were standard for my past few months, a faster road run, an easy trail run, and some beach miles.
I didn’t do beach sprints on Tuesday due to it being a hot summer like day and the beach was crowded. Decided to just hit easy miles instead, that was a part of the taper strategy too. Just ease up a bit.
I fit in a couple of 20 minute strength and jump rope sessions at the end of the week.
Unexpectedly I met up with 4 of my best friends from back in Canada in downtown Chicago and we walked about 11 miles over the city together.
A shorter weekend long run due to mothers day on Sunday but also because I knew I’d be running LONG today (Monday).
Unfortunately, my muslces decided to rebel yesterday and I was very tight all day, perhaps too tight to even try this run today. But I took lots of precaution and played offense and feel good to go this morning (more on this tomorrow in the reflection write up).
So the execution was decent but the result, not optimal. The more you’re in this game, the more you recognize that the body and mind will work together to try and get you to quit or stop before you start a big effort. It knows what’s coming and tries to preserve itself.
Willpower, patience, and understanding from experience help me bridge the gap and keep moving forward.
The Projection
This week is all about the big effort today and then easing back into motion for the rest of the week.
I want to walk/jog the 45 minutes on Wednesday for our Tribal May running and writing challenge, but otherwise I will let the body tell me what to do.
I’m off to Chattanooga, TN for the Team 70.3 and will have some opportunities to jog and move lightly with my teammates over the weekend. I’ll bring my jump rope and a yoga mat too. No expectations.
I expect to be pretty beaten up after today, but not so badly I won’t want to keep moving soon after!
The Takeaway
I’ve got to wrap this up quick, it’s breakfast time with the kids and I’m on solo dad duty until I leave Thursday morning.
That’s the takeaway.
Don’t wait until you have the ‘perfect’ time to go and do something BIG, BOLD, and DARING.
If you want something GO FOR IT.
There’s never a perfect time. There’s only the time in front of you or behind you.
The more time you spend waiting, the less time you have on the runway ahead.
Whether it’s a big physical effort, a drastic life change, a simple new habit, or anything else that’s off the ordinary and requires a big mental shift in how you live your life you need courage to JUST GO.
That meme that’s been flying around ‘You can just do things’
Yeah, go out and embody that.
Either BIG or SMALL.
JUST GO!
Happy Training Team
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