Search Results for: mental toughness

Runners Saying it Like it Is: “PR’s are fun”

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After running the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half-Marathon in New Orleans Shalane Flanagan Tweeted something all runners can relate to, “Running PR’s are fun!” Succinct. To. The. Point. Flanagan followed it up in THIS Competitor recap with, “I think anytime you can run a personal best, that’s something special. You can’t take those for granted.” So true. The thing with PR’s is they become quite rare. Elusive like that unicorn that poops out gold bricks. 😉 They are especially rare as you improve and get faster. Sure, you start running and the improvement curve is such that you could lop minutes off of successive 5k’s like it’s nothing. That incentive to keep stepping up your game becomes more enticing, you cross the line fresh off of your last PR and think, “Okay, bring on the NEXT!” From there the PR’s probably still come, but they are in shorter intervals, no longer full minutes. They become more hard fought, you must start reaching into new levels of mental toughness. You get more calloused as a runner both physically and mentally. It then gets to the point where those PR’s stick for awhile. Weeks, months, years maybe. Funny how much HARDER you must FIGHT and PUSH for single seconds. Tenths of a second. Hundredths even. Regardless of level, elite or mortals of the world, everyone is fighting for those dang seconds. Time hangs in the balance, the irony is that as you watch the clock tick down as you barrel for the home stretch on the cusp of what could be a new PR, the seconds FEEL excruciatingly long but they seem to TICK OFF much too quickly. Will you make it to the line in time? Then there are the days when you know you are a much better runner than the Continue Reading →

Coaching a Runner is an Art

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Figuring out this whole running and performance thing is tricky business. The planning, the workouts, the tapering, the peaking, the knowing when to rest or back off, when to push it and when to hammer the crap of of your body; all of this is the science behind our sport. I’ve always been in awe of great coaches. Coaching, or rather coaching well, is an art. I’ve been incredibly privileged to meet and talk to coaches for whom I believe are the Picassos or Maya Angelous of coaching. Toss in Albert Einstein in there too. Alberto Salazar is one of those coaches and being a runner nerdette I could listen to running stories and training all day long. What I’ve come to realize though, is that the best coaches are intuitive; you can’t really pinpoint WHAT makes them so great, just like you can’t explain how to paint to someone, with great coaching it comes down to a sense. The sense isn’t dissimilar to running and racing; there are some athletes who are just naturally about to step up their game and get hyped when the gun goes off. They are gamers and will race above their training level because they are able to best utilize the endorphins and electric energy that comes with race day. Coaching is sensitive to each athlete, it has to be individualized because no two runners are exactly the same. That seems logical enough, but even then the unique coaching sense comes into play on a daily, even hourly level. I’ve watched training plans get switched around about three times in an hour; with training you set up a long term running plan with workouts and the key races. But you know this long term plan isn’t set in stone, you then tweak it as Continue Reading →

Running Interview With Ahrlin Bauman: Speedster, Hilarity, Pacer, Big Mac Destroyer– This runner’s been taking names across the greater North-West

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Chance are that if you live anywhere in the greater Portland or Eugene area, you’re a runner, and you like to race you’ve probably lined up next to Ahrlin Bauman. Just as likely you’ve gotten your tush beaten by him, though in all fairness his fellow Bowerman Athletic Club (BAC) teammates give him a run for his money and have beaten you too. 🙂 I first had the pleasure of meeting Bauman back in 2004 when he’d do a girl a favor, slow down, and do some pacing duties for the Nike Oregon Project. Pacing can be a tricky duty, but Ahrlin is not only a human metronome when it comes to splits he’s even better company. He’d have us laughing on the warm-ups, even a bit on those early mid-interval recovery jogs (before we were too tired to laugh back, he’d still be quick with the quips!), and be just as gregarious on the cool-downs. Pacing duties aside, he’s one heck of a competitor, has remarkable range from the 1500 to the half-marathon (he just finished last weekend’s Eugene Half in 1:08:20, placing 4th), and hasn’t been sidelined with an injury in years. What’s more, is that he balances all of his training with a job working for the USPS; trust me that job entails crazy hours and all of them on your feet. Yet he still retains a social life and is married to another stand-out runner, Annie Kawasaki. He’s the got the legs and the personality and plenty of wisdom to share, so without further adieu…Ahrlin Bauman. Recent Races of Note: (Track) Linfield Icebreaker 10000 meters: 4th place 31:19.55 (Roads) Race for the Roses 10K: 1st place 32:16.80 (Roads) Corvallis½ Marathon: 4th place 68:32 (Track) Pacific Relays 3000 meters: 1st place 8:51.05 (Track) Mt.Hood Open 1500 meters: Continue Reading →

My Love/Hate Relationship With Running

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Running and I have a fickle relationship. Running… I hate how you taunt me each morning, “When are you going to get to me today?” That little question hangs in the silences, it screams over any chatter, it teases me with updates of what my friends’ workouts were. That question sits there until I get you done. Yet I love how you reward me once I’m a sweaty mess. Despite all else the day entails I feel that I have at least accomplished something through you. The endorphins you gift me, even after an easy run, are enough to tide me over until the next day, when you again start this vicious cycle all over again. I hate you on those days when the first few miles steps make me feel like a Sumo wrestler who is doing something completely against nature and sanity. The days where that act of right-left-right feels foreign… Though I love how somewhere along the line I slip into my stride and remember that I am actually a runner. I hate 400’s. I hate those track workouts, heck I hate the warm-up BEFORE the actual workouts because I know what’s coming. Who are we trying to fool here, Running, I know you’re going to only bring me pain. I hate standing on the line, JUST before I’m about to start the first interval where I have to play into your charade and tell myself, “It’s not going to be that bad,” and then take off. Though there is NOTHING I love more than being in the middle of a kick @$$ workout, one that I know I’m owning, I’m on a roll and I’m surprising myself at the splits that keep ticking off. The mix of emotions: excitement at doing all I can to keep Continue Reading →

Redlining and the All Important ‘E’

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Warning: you are approaching empty. This post is inspired by two things, so bear with me. The first is this hilarious picture from SkinnyRunner’s blog…who amongst us hasn’t played chicken with that empty gas alert gauge on our car? (okay Seinfeld fans smile at the flashback to Kramer here) Is it just me or does it constantly seem like I’m trying to one-up the empty gauge. With gas, part of it is because I cringe as I whip out the debit card…it just seems like with gas I don’t get an actual, physical return. Yes, it gets me to where I need to be, but what do I actually GET…it feels like wasted money. We play chicken with the E in other areas of our life too. Just how much can I accomplish in this hour…I work best under pressure, so come the 11th hour and it’s crunch time you better watch me churn things out like a tornado. (little tip here: I know this about myself, so I try and ‘trick’ myself by setting a pre-deadline deadline…I’m anal about having something important done early) With running, there are TONS of E’s…but here is where it’s a bit odd. Some of these E’s you need to avoid and others you need to kind of embrace and play around with. An obvious E is fuel, this is one you don’t want to play chicken with…we’ve all made the mistake of mistiming our eating (or making a really bad food choice too soon before a run…those curly, cheese and bean fries don’t taste too good the second time, no?) and it doesn’t feel too good to bonk. Injuries could count as E’s to avoid…especially if you sense one coming. Danger, Will, Robinson…abort. We feel that pull, get the sinking ping in our Continue Reading →

Battling the Race Day Nerves — Use the Nerves to Your Advantage

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Sunday again already, eh? Well, we are approaching the ‘GO TIME’ for races here; whether it’s the high schoolers gearing up and going through all the sectional/regional races, the college athletes doing the same, the road racers continually make the circuit, and of course the marathons. We have NYC Marathon fast approaching, other ones going on all around the world, and then come January the US Olympic Trials…exciting stuff! Though, whether you are racing in a huge meet or a low-key fun run, there is something special about putting on that race bib. Even if you are going into a race using it more as a workout or a tune-up, you still get that little buzz right before that gun goes off. Races wake up that competitive beast just a little more…if tough workouts are just poking it with a stick than having a gun go off is like kicking him in the mouth. I’ve talked about how people have different perspectives on races: for some they just want to survive, others don’t care a lick about time and are all about the fun, and then there are those who are out for time and want to push themselves to their absolute limits. Any and all of those goals are valid and great; but if you do fall into that last category and each of these races are upping the ante: read as you need to hit a certain qualifying mark, place as high as possible to make it to the next round, and there is a lot on the line, you CAN’T let the nerves get the better of you. You want that buzz of adrenaline, the prick of your hairs as you crouch at the line, because that’s all a part of racing. But you don’t want to Continue Reading →

Embracing Discomfort: True rewards are only met when you’ve been pushed

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Running is all about dealing with discomfort. It teaches us that we are capable of handling more discomfort than we think and it always increases our tolerance for pain discomfort. Running strengthens us and skews our perception of just what is uncomfortable. A non-runner complains about a stomach ache, a runner doesn’t start complaining until they are projectile vomiting. But the reason that runner’s complaining is probably because it’s in the middle of a long run and they NEED to keep that gel/drink down because they need the energy, not because it hurts. 😉 Pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone is the only way to keep growing as a person, as an athlete, as a runner. In FORCING yourself to push, you’re setting yourself up to achieve more. The beautiful thing is that whether you wind up hitting XXX goal or not (if there’s not the danger of failing then you’re not setting high enough goals!) you’ll no doubt have improved in some way. You’ll have made progress. The journey to progress is just as important as the end results. Now I said it was a beautiful thing, fancy that, discomfort being beautiful. It may yield beauty but living through it is hard, painful, grueling at times. Discomfort tests us. But when you open yourself UP to that feeling of discomfort you’ll discover that it DOES get easier. And you’ll be inching your threshold to withstand discomfort ever forward. Running teaches us so much about life, and one of the strongest lessons is that, yes, we are much more resilient and tough than our minds want us to believe. It’s a coping mechanism, our brains don’t really like feeling uncomfortable. So we have to just trick it, PUSH, and force it to keep going. Pushing yourself to step outside Continue Reading →

An Injured Runner’s Psyche: The Sybil Effect

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I’m a runner, I’m injured, I’m not held accountable for my actions. I’m pretty sure this would hold up in court. A runner deprived of their endorphins isn’t quite themselves. Be warned, handle their delicate psyche with care… ———- Staying POSITIVE through an injury is the only way to get through it…my post HERE is all about that. More post ALL about INJURIES Posts for CROSS-TRAINING (trust me, cross-train while you’re injured so you can come back to running stronger! doing nothing will be a cold slap of reality…take some of the sting out. 😉 ) When not injured, sometimes you need to remind yourself how lucky you are. Don’t take your running for granted. ———- 1) The last time you were injured, what was a ‘casualty’ of war? I may or may not have bitten a few heads off. 😉 2) If you’re injured right now, you’re allowed one vent sentence. Then follow it up with a positive affirmation that will get you through your injury. 3) For all you NOT injured, write a sentence on how you’re GRATEFUL for your ability to run and remind yourself never to take that for granted.

No Sissies on the Track

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Please clear the track, we’ve got some runners coming through, and they’re taking care of business!! Running is not a sport for the excuse-makers of the world. It takes lots of motivation and dedication to improve, but the glorious thing about that is the power to get better is RIGHT there, in your hands (eeerr…feet?), and within your control. In a sport where work ethic is more important than your height, shoe size, or inborn talent, the mentally tough, refuse-to-give up runners are the ones who come out on top. And after all, it’s watching those kind of runners overcome obstacles and odds that in turn inspires US to follow our own goals. Dream bigger than our running shoes and put in the work. *Cue the African Safari Music* “It’s the circle of runner-life.” *Bamboo lifts your racing shoes to the heavens above.* Running is also a state of mind. It’s mental. I’ve had people call me a jogger, and I joke about being heinously offended. Then I’ve had people be offended that I’m offended about the j-word. Like I’m a runner ‘snob’ or sometimes people feel judged saying, “I’m not a runner, I’m not fast enough to be a runner.” In both of those instances, my reply is the same: * The difference between a runner and a jogger ISN’T pace, mileage, or numbers related. * Earning ‘runner’ status is in the mind, the spirit, the dedication. You’re a runner if you LOVE it. You’re a jogger if you feel ‘forced into it’, like it’s a chore, or you’re only doing this to lose weight. Runners are self-motivated and if anything have to have someone else beat/talk ‘sense’ into us at times, to hold us back, learn the times when not to run. Joggers aren’t all that worried about Continue Reading →

Runner’s Strip Animation: Where ‘Normal World’ and ‘Runner World’ Intersect

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There’s ‘Normal People World’ and ‘Runner World’…but the best place is where they intersect. Running is a special sport because you could be 1-foot or 7-feet, 3 lbs or 300 lbs, not have a lick of coordination, but if you put in the work and are motivated you WILL improve. That’s it. Of course that motivation part is what defines the sport and no amount of good genes can make up for a lacking there. On the flip side that’s what makes running even more fun and exciting…it’s the MENTAL factor. That gamer-trait and tough as dirt runner spirit are what makes those stories of triumph, the inspiration the breeds motivation in others, and thus makes a nice little circle. It’s the circle of (runner) life?? 😉 And let’s be honest, the ‘Real World’ can get downright stressful, glum, and hum-drum at times…so it’s always refreshing to be able to escape, if for only a short bit, into ‘Runner World’. Run. Smile. Live. —– More Runner’s Strip Cartoon Animation Shorts HERE!! Post on the METNAL factor of running HERE —– 1) What does your ‘strip’ to runner world look like? Do you have to wear a certain uniform to work/school, or do you try to get away with wearing runner clothes as often as possible? Ummm…take a guess? 2) What’s one genetic trait that you may be lacking in but doesn’t matter in ‘Runner World’? No coordination. Like negative 200. But I can turn left and run straight! 3) What’s something that inspired or motivated you recently? My dad. He used to run casually but now he’s running ultra’s.