Common Sense vs Competitive Nature

We are fast approaching the mid point of our season. . Whether this is your first attempt at distance or you have finished mulitple half or full marathons right about now is when we begin to question our health, fitness and sometimes sanity.

The heat and humidity of the past two weeks has been brutal and quite frankly damaging to your pace and your psche (the latter being so often tied to the former). COMMON SENSE tells you that your body is being taxed more in this weather. Your resources are depleted faster. You need to make constant adjustments to your fluid & electrolyte intake and to your pace. For some of you it means working out indoors due to lung or heart issues. Your COMPETITIVE NATURE is that little voice in your head that is saying nasty things like "You are a slug", "What is wrong with you today?" "You are never going to get to your goal at this rate"... and similar stuff. Our competitive nature is overriding our comon sense on days like this. So in addition to all the juggling mentioned above we also have to keep a balance between these two competing forces. We need to balance working hard enough to stay on the road to our goal with making adjustments for the conditions at hand.

Remember, every step you take in this weather is a step closer to your goal; a step closer to better fitness and preparedness for your 8k, 13.1 or 26.2 mile race. You might be slower in this weather, and more tired at the end, but you are still building strength and endurance. You are also acclimating with each step and mile. The increased strength and endurance today will make next week - in similar conditions - easier to manage.

Overdoing it or pushing too hard and letting your competitive nature take over your common snese may cause injury or worse that could permanently derail your progress toward race day.

There is an argument to be made that too much common sense can be detrimental as well. And that's true. Sometimes we find ourselves making excuses not to train. Remember this - you made the committment to train for 28 weeks. You all know people who can't commit to anything for more than a day. You made the committment to get up early on Saturday to train. You have friends and family who aren't even awake by the time you get home on Saturdays. I know people who balk at driving the distances you are training to take on.

So I doubt any of you is in serious danger of making too many excuses. Relax, give yourself a break. You are all rockstars. Be proud, be strong and keep smiling and keep moving.

P.S. One of the benefits of group training is the help you can get and give eachother to balance these two competing forces. Words of encouragement to another go a long way to fighting the nasty voices and training together on Saturdays or the occassional weekday keep us from making excuses not to train. Whether you are on the giving or recieving end of these helps it's a win-win.