Week 7 - Marathon Musings: On Staying Flexible
Just making sure everyone knows I’m a marathoner on my elliptical day at the gym.
Every time I decide to run a fall marathon, I curse myself for choosing to do something that requires summer training. I don’t do well in the heat (I swear, I run hot naturally and normally) and my mind gets extra challenged by the change in effort and slowing of paces. There have been training blocks where I’ve tallied how many runs I feel like the heat won and how many runs I feel like I won. I’m sure it’s not a surprise to hear that the heat has been the clear winner.
The goal with running the past few summers has been simple: try to complain about the heat less. The heat isn’t going to change, but I can change how I approach the heat. I’m not going to stop running in the summer, so I need to remember that I am actively making a choice to run in conditions that I know will test and challenge me. This is about more than changing how I fuel and hydrate for a run that I know will be in hot and humid conditions; it’s about changing how I approach training, in general.
Changing how I approach training is hard because I have been doing things a certain way for a long time. If I’m in base-building mode, I like to run 4 days a week. If I’m in training mode, I like to run 5-6 days a week with .a dedicated speed workout day. That’s what has worked for me in the past and that’s where I feel comfortable because I’ve got over a decade of experience with that training strategy. But, as I’ve said before, old ways of training won’t unlock new ways of being as an athlete…especially when those “old” ways no longer make sense given the context of who I am as a runner now and how I respond to/recover from running now.
As training kicked off this summer, I anticipated the adjustment to the heat and humidity would be hard, but this year was a particularly hard transition for me. I was finding myself being extra discouraged by how hard running felt. I also felt frustrated by feeling like I couldn’t do enough to make things feel better on the run and post-run. Running felt hard at baseline – and I’m one to always say that running is hard, even when it doesn’t feel effortful – and the thought of doing something harder, like speed work, was like a knife to my runner’s heart.
Thankfully, I have a coach who checked in with how I was feeling and knew, from what I shared, that a different approach was needed. Heck, I knew something different needed to be done to prevent burnout and stop running from becoming a chore that was emptied of all its joy. But what? My mind was programmed to a “Run 5-6 days” setting and I was afraid of doing something different because I’ve never done it before.
This was a moment where I had to choose to be courageous over being fearful and I had to be open-minded. I had to choose to be curious over being rigid and I had to embrace being flexible while trying out a different approach and structure to training. The big change? Swap out a running day for a cross-training day. Not just any running day either, but my speed workout day. I would be taking my speed workout to an elliptical and I would be giving my body and my mind a reprieve from the heat and the discouraging effects of running in the heat. I was skeptical and apprehensive at first, but let me tell you, several weeks into this and I am so glad I made the switch because I feel like I can actually keep up with the intensity of the training. It’s also been nice to take a break from the negative self-talk that sneaks its way into my mind when I try to do speed on the roads in the summer.
Moral of the story: just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it’s going to suck or that I’m going to fail. What it means is that there is potential out there for me to explore. Doing what I’ve done has got me to where I am today, but continuing to do it that way won’t help me when it comes to longevity in the sport.
Being flexible is how I grow and give myself the space to show up to training as I am. Being curious about other ways to train is how I stay engaged and excited. Being courageous means I set my ego aside and make choices that will help me feel better, stronger, and more empowered.
There is no one path to becoming a marathoner and that’s the most beautiful thing about running, in my opinion. What works for me might work for you and vice versa. But also, what works for me might not work for you and vice versa. We all have the opportunity to use flexibility as a tool to help us become better athletes by approaching training in a more personalized way.
As I embrace training differently in this season of running, I hope you see the value of feeling and experiencing things differently, too. Who knows what the growth can be and we all deserve a shot at finding out where our potential can take us, even if it means traveling down the unanticipated, unexpected, or unplanned path.
Marathon History:
2014 Chicago Marathon
2015 Miami Marathon
2015 Berlin Marathon
2015 Chicago Marathon
2016 Chicago Marathon
2016 NYC Marathon
2017 Chicago Marathon
2018 Chicago Marathon
2021 Chicago Marathon
2023 London Marathon
2023 Marine Corps Marathon
Marathon Musings series:
10 weeks until Chicago. Week 7 of musings somehow brought together because the thoughts on flexibility have taken me down several rabbit holes.
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