nice, you wrote a great.
nice, you wrote a great.
Reporting in:
Slo absolutely crushed it with a 15:49, dropping this young buck as I tried to keep up. But I still came through with a 40 second PR (16:10).
Slo is a legend.
Awesome racing boys! Thread mojo keeps increasing and increasing.
High tide raises all boats type of deal.
jot quill wrote:
Reporting in:
Slo absolutely crushed it with a 15:49, dropping this young buck as I tried to keep up. But I still came through with a 40 second PR (16:10).
Slo is a legend.
Nice work fellas. JQ - huge PR. Sub 2:40 will be a cake walk. You should be thinking more like 2:35.
angryjohnny wrote:
jot quill wrote:
Reporting in:
Slo absolutely crushed it with a 15:49, dropping this young buck as I tried to keep up. But I still came through with a 40 second PR (16:10).
Slo is a legend.
Nice work fellas. JQ - huge PR. Sub 2:40 will be a cake walk. You should be thinking more like 2:35.
Ha, We had this exact conversation this morning. J. Quill is destined for beastly levels of running greatness. Was awesome to hammer together this morning. Currently in a very limited window where I can still attempt to hang with him in a race!
Sub 6- glad the knee is on the up and up
Here’s a good article about the mental aspect of enduring pain that one of my fast friends shared with me:
https://medium.com/@bromka/confine-your-runner-mind-59724cfe21c4
Full text pasted below:
I’ve considered dropping out of every one of the best workouts I’ve ever completed. With my body and mind overloaded it simply seemed like too much.
“There’s no way I can hit that split again for this next one. I must stop soon.” I decided. But then, in that moment of resignation, when I’d settled on a plan to quit, I already felt better. While still traveling at the same pace I was more at ease. With the plan to stop in place the effort felt less onerous since my mind was already relaxed. Which, irritatingly, meant I must go on.
Such moments of fear teach us that it isn’t the instant you’re in that’s too much, it’s the extrapolation of that moment multiplied many times over that breaks your brain.
So don’t.
Do not concern yourself with what’s to come.
“Confine yourself to the present.” — Marcus Aurelius
Though I have no insight into what the Roman emperor meant, as a leader during great upheaval it’s safe to assume he faced immense uncertainty and danger. So he managed through reduction, by zooming in and confining fear. Eliminating an indulgent preoccupation with the future that he could not afford.
Neither can you.
To push your body to its peak you must confine your mind and diffuse its protective impulses. While its alerts are sent with noble intent, they’re misguided and exaggerated. Prone to hysteria. Contrary to its fearful protests, you are in fact alright. Safe, if a bit insane. Even as your senses scream otherwise, you are able.
So hang, in this moment, at this speed, under this pressure. Appreciate it for what it is: a preciously brief window of designed discomfort.
If you can, find others willing to join you to gallivant in this garden of distress. Together my teammates and I create psychological safety that normalizes the pain. We slip into a mutual delusion, a warped reality in which paces are possible that I’m never able to manage on my own.
“Focus on the gap, not the rock. If you stare at the rock you’ll steer right into it.” — a friend suggested while mountain biking.
The same could be said for the pain of endurance exertion; focusing on it only seems to steer you into more of it.
I attempt to think of my stride, my hand swing and knee drive. Since under even the greatest duress neither particularly aches or burns. They’re markers of my current performance but not centers of discomfort.
Your body doesn’t know what’s to come, so unbind it from the obligation. It only knows the power to push, float, and land, and then inflect off to rise again.
And repeat. And repeat.
Drop the shoulders. Unclench the hands. Ease the breath. Productive things you can do while shifting away from the harmful signals coming from your mind.
These moments of exertion represent a spectacularly small amount of our lives as runners. In a given month of training you may spend dozens of hours running, recovering, reading and discussing the simple sport we love to obsess. But precious few minutes are actually spent here, teetering on the almost unbearable edge of your ability.
In a world of multi-tasking, app switching and interruption, when you’re here, hurting, you’re pushing right up against the essence of your humanity. Your mind is trapped, existing solely in the meters ahead.
Yes, it’s awful, but it’s your awful. Sure you’re hurting, but in mere moments this window you’ve opened will close. The uncertainty induced by this discomfort isn’t a problem, it’s the point. Hover here. Make space for yourself.
Like the calloused edge of a runner’s foot that’s accustom to impact, this mental rehearsal develops protection from the waves of shock you’ll encounter while racing, working or just daily life.
What started as the method to improve as an athlete has become the simplest way to cut through all of life’s bullshit; using a hill, a path or a track to return you to the essence of yourself.
You’re here right now, legs burning, mind screaming, tiptoeing along the cusp of failure, because inviting this suffering builds strength and embracing this vulnerability provides peace.
Welcome.
With you still shedding time off insane strength in the middle of massive weeks... I'll still be chasing for a long while! Slo made it look like a cakewalk and the rest of our little pack was feeding off his magic pace like a bunch of freeloaders ha
JQ and slo - Busting out the speed! You guys are fabulous. The sky is the limit for JQ, and slo is destined to hammer Indy. You guys are inspiring me, and helping me to keep going. I ran a pain-in-butt 21.25 in the hills this morning, at 6:55 overall. Hitting MP is really tough right now. Starting to lose some faith. At least the weather was beautiful this morning...48 here in the valley when I went out.
OR I know it’s hard. But watch it. If you get a full blown piriformis syndrome. It could dog you for months and months and months. And I mean no running.
Thanks. I know.
The thought of bagging Richmond and trying for something in the spring (perhaps Shamrock) has crossed my mind...but then that would be two blown marathons this year.
When I got it full blown. I could barely walk for a week. Was some of the worse pain I have ever had.
ended up having to take steroids to get over it all the way.
AJ - Auburn losing in the Swamp, and it is getting late...
INT and it should be over now. Gus is MAD.
Just to add to the 5k results, won my little neighborhood race this evening. Slower than I’d aimed for (16:07), but I’ll take it. Second place was 16:15 from a 2:29 guy training for CIM. Lives 4 blocks from me, so might jump in a workout with him after my post-Chicago lay-off. Third was a few minutes back.
outsiderunner wrote:
INT and it should be over now. Gus is MAD.
What better way for AJ to end a great week than an Auburn loss? An Auburn loss and a Georgia loss, perhaps?
Sub 6:00 wrote:
Just to add to the 5k results, won my little neighborhood race this evening. Slower than I’d aimed for (16:07), but I’ll take it. Second place was 16:15 from a 2:29 guy training for CIM. Lives 4 blocks from me, so might jump in a workout with him after my post-Chicago lay-off. Third was a few minutes back.
For the win! Nice to snag that coming back from the knee issue! Feeling like all systems go from here to Chicago?
jot quill wrote:
Sub 6:00 wrote:
Just to add to the 5k results, won my little neighborhood race this evening. Slower than I’d aimed for (16:07), but I’ll take it. Second place was 16:15 from a 2:29 guy training for CIM. Lives 4 blocks from me, so might jump in a workout with him after my post-Chicago lay-off. Third was a few minutes back.
For the win! Nice to snag that coming back from the knee issue! Feeling like all systems go from here to Chicago?
Eh...enough systems go. Still a bit off, but I think I can get through it without hurting myself. I don’t feel like I’m deluding myself to think that running Chicago instead of Richmond is the right call.