With just a couple days before the New Mexico adventure begins, I am well into one of the best tapers I have had in my life. With marathon and triathlon training, the taper is never that fun, as you just lessen the training and get nervous to hit your goal mile-splits. I remember still having a ravenous appetite during my marathon tapers, but since I was only running half the miles that I usually did, I couldn't afford to eat that third steak, as Ron Swanson would say:
That kind of stuff is stressful during a taper, trying to keep that spice in the legs and trying not to gain those couple of pounds that would add 15 seconds to each mile.
With my taper for the Race Across New Mexico, I am feeling really good about all the training that has occurred up to this point. Last week, I finished my 2nd cycle of a "100 Mile Work Week" (running 100 miles Monday through Friday for two weeks, with the weekends off), and my legs felt incredible! I could get used to running 100 mile weeks, and the 14 hours of training each week really allows you to get some really good fresh air and enjoy the outdoors.
I thought about doing a 20 miler today, but in actuality, it probably would do nothing for preparing me to run 390 miles in 15 days. All of the base training I have is in there in my legs, and now I just need to take it easy and relax. If anything, I could use more mental preparation. Speaking of which, I have been reading an excellent book by former Navy SEAL Commander Mark Divine entitled "The Way of the SEAL." In this book, Mark Divine gives a lot of exercises to help you focus your mind and complete your mission, whatever it may be. I would highly recommend this book! Most important to me so far have been the visualization and breathing exercises, and also defining what my purpose is.
***
During my most recent runs, I have been thinking a lot about how awesome it is to run. Some recent quotes I have really taken a liking to:
"It's not all about going faster. It's not all about winning races or doing well in races. It's about, you know, what running means to me."
This bit of wisdom was given by Rickey Gates, who won the Canadian Death Race in 2011. In a video I watched of him, he also talks about the idea of what you have. Many people want material things, a bigger house, a newer car. The triathlete wants a newer, full-carbon bike or a better power meter. Things things, yes they bring some sort of satisfaction, but they don't bring to you a realness or a substance to your soul. Rickey Gates speaks of life experiences, and how those experiences, those stories, are what really matter. It's not what you have...it's what you experience.
I want my experiences to be varied and wonderful, and I also want my experiences to make some kind of impact on others. This New Mexico excursion will be something that I will always remember. It will be a journey to find out something new about myself, but more importantly it is a journey that will have the possibility to affect others in magnificent ways.
Another amazing person, Bernd Heinrich, said this about running:
"Ideally you'd like to be a bird, but running is a close second."
Nothing could be more true. Nothing compares to being out there in nature, running from here to there, or maybe just running with no goal in mind. Running in new, unexplored place is very magical, and does in fact make you feel like a bird on the wind. Your mood is elated, just like a bird on the wind, ebbing and flowing with your thoughts, with what your senses take in: the feeling of the breeze upon you, the way the sun ducks behind high cirrus clouds, the undulations of the dirt and rocks beneath your feet. Once you get away from running for the sake of hitting specific mile splits, and once you can accept that it is even more amazing to run for the sake of running itself, it is at this instant that you truly begin to live.
So on your next run, try to take in your surroundings. Play with a dog through a fence. Pick up some weird pine cones or rocks. Run a new route that is really hilly and offers good views.
***
Well, this is enough for you to think about in this post. Check back soon for more updates on the preparation for the New Mexico trip!
Until then,
Run on!
No comments:
Post a Comment