Friday, August 19, 2011

When Your Best Just Isn't Good Enough

For the past 11 Tuesdays I have ran at Summer Speed Sessions. I have been up before 5:30 AM each of these Tuesdays except for the one morning where it was, no joke, one of the loudest storms I have ever heard and decided it would be safer to run in 90+ degree heat later in the evening than deal with lightning and thunder. I have been at the track before 6 AM to get my warm up. I haven't done the dynamic drills though...a bootcamp teacher that I didn't quite see eye to eye with loved dynamic workouts a little too much, thus making me hate them. I have completed all of the workouts to the best of my ability. My one goal for Summer Speed Sessions was to finish a mile under 7 minutes. Anything under 6:59 was fine by me. And I did that on my very first mile. Barely. Halfway through we tested our progress. And I improved,  improved in the sweltering heat no less. 

On Tuesday we ran another timed mile. I gave it my best and my best wasn't good enough. Not only did I do worse than my second time trial, I did worse than my first time trial. It took me 7:02 to run a mile. I was incredibly disappointed with this time, however there are a few things to take into consideration. I almost hate to mention them because I feel like I am making excuses.

  • I ate more this past weekend than I probably ate the entire month of July. Probably a bit of an exaggeration, but I ate a lot. 
  • I also drank a lot. You know those buckets of margaritas? I pretty much polished one off my myself over the course of 2 nights in addition to beer...
  • And probably the biggest thing, I fell while playing in the river on Sunday evening. In the picture below in the left hand corner a little lower than center, see that rock formation that is perfectly scooped out with two larger flat parts on each side? I fell right in the middle of that hitting my tailbone hard. It was one of those falls that completely knocked everything out of me. I sat there for a few minutes stunned at what just happened. Then I rolled over and almost wanted to throw up it hurt so bad. So this was still hurting on Tuesday.
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Even with all of the variables that came into play for my mile on Tuesday, I wanted to do better. I tried to do better and I just couldn't. I looked down at my watch as I crossed the finish line and was bummed. When people asked how I did, it wasn't too hard to tell them I didn't do as well as I wanted to and that technically I got slower. 

Would I change anything? If I could, the only thing I would change would be the fall. Everything else about the weekend was great. Time spent laughing and exploring with great friends. I ate amazing food. I went whitewater rafting. I hike 4 pretty awesome trails and even saw some waterfalls AND a black bear. To improve my mile by X amount wouldn't have been worth it if I had to give up everything I did last weekend. I need to realize that running fast isn't the most important thing, it's that I was simply out there running.

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4 comments:

ghettogheek said...

I learned just about a year ago (and it's a recurring theme for Ashlee and I) that no matter where you are in your training, you WILL have crappy, crappy runs....that said, I was physically only able to do 4 miles one run about a week ago.(and you know my regimen). Don't get sucked into the "cheap excuses" trap...hell, make those excuses and make them count! Just make sure you're being honest with yourself. As long as I am 100% honest and blame my crappy run on one too many LIT's, I'm fine with that..toxins can screw anything up! In short, you're the bomb Sarah...keep on keepin' on!

krissie said...

Friend. Count to ten.

Not just because you need to take a few deep breaths, but because that was how far off your best time you were.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

That's all. Less time than it takes you to tie your shoe. Or find your ringing phone in your purse. Or log into your email.

Ten seconds. That's all.

Ten seconds that take none of your awesomeness away. Ten seconds that don't add any weight back on to your frame. (You look amazing, by the way.)

Your tailbone will heal. You will have several days of eating well. And you'll knock even more time off your best. Just wait and see!

I love ya girl!

Duane said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Duane said...

wow. i dont know krissie, but i think she wins for best blog comment ever. i feel encouraged and its not even about me. and yes, she is totally right: you are a badass, sarah!