It has been said that runners have their best thoughts of the day while out running. Runner and writer
Michael Selman shares his
"Thoughts on Running" with us here at ontherunevents.com.
For me, as with most people, the week between Christmas and New Years
always ends up being a time mostly reserved for reflection, evaluation,
and creation of new goals. I do this in all aspects of my life, but
running is always one of the things I closely scrutinize without fail
this time of year. There is a special excitement in closing out one
year’s running log, and making those first few entries on the front pages
of the new one.
The human body has a way of distancing itself from its own full athletic
potential as we age, and it’s a frustratingly helpless feeling. As I
inch ever closer to completing the first half-century of my life, I
realize that lifetime PR’s at any distance are getting less and less
likely, but I’m still too stubborn to say it could never, ever happen.
But I do know that if there ARE any PR’s in my future, they won’t “just
happen” as they used to in the good young days. They will happen by
knowing my body, and learning how to train in order to push it beyond its
current abilities.
As I reflect back on this past year in running, it’s been a rather
lackluster year. It started out with great promise, and high hopes. I
closed out 2002 with my first ever 200 mile month in over 20 years of
running, and I was seeing positive results of marathon training in
shorter race distances. In January and February of this year, I ran a
couple of “training” marathons in preparation for Myrtle Beach and
learned some hard lessons about over-training. The training marathons
both went very well, but race day was a bust, and I ended up with a DNF.
It was a very anti-climatic end to months of very good training.
After that, and for most of the rest of the year, running was either
largely unfocused, or non-existent. I still got out and ran from time to
time, and raced occasionally, but I was there more for the social
aspects, or for photo opportunities in support of the newsletter I
produce for my club. I often carried a one-use camera to a race and
assumed my position as “embedded photographer,” which made for some great
photos, but some of the worst 5K times I’ve ever run.
I started to train a little more seriously in late September, and times
did improve from where they had been, but they still aren’t nearly
approaching last year’s times. Only a fraction of that can be blamed on
the aging process. Most of it can be attributed to a lack of goals and
real focus.
On Christmas Day, along with the running log I get every year, my wife
also presented me with a new heart rate monitor, and with it, the
potential to be only a few heartbeats away from a change for the better.
I’ve never used a HRM before, but I’ve never really looked closely at
the real science of running, either. For the most part, I’ve just run,
and when I train for a marathon, I run more. There’s nothing too fancy
about that.
For some irrational reason, the new year provides an opportunity for each
of us to draw a line in the sand where one can cross over from what was
negative to what is positive. Some people call this phenomenon a New
Year’s Resolution, but these resolutions often have a shorter life than a
fruit-fly. The truth is that any moment of any day can be the moment you
change something about your life forever for the better.
The main positive aspect of a bad running year is that it leaves much
hope and room for improvement the next year. 2003 was one of those
unpleasant years, and so I look forward to 2004 with positive feelings
that my times can be better than they were this year.
Next year will be the first year I take a hard look at the discipline of
running, as opposed to merely the act of running. Discipline is the main
element that’s been lacking in my running for most of 2003, and it’s an
ingredient I hunger for again. Once I plow through the 90-page user’s
manual and get an understanding of how to use it, my new heart rate
monitor will be an essential part of my training plan to better times in
2004. It will always be very close to my heart.
2004 is going to be a great year. Improvement is only a few heartbeats
away.
The Roads Scholar, Michael Selman runs and writes in Atlanta GA. He
would love to hear from you. Please e-mail him at TheRoadsScholar@aol.com
with any questions or comments. You can also subscribe to his Newsletter
at that same address.
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