Team Love Training More is pleased to bring you this guest blog post by veteran team member Doreen Redmond. It’s exciting to profile our athletes and their journeys and to share the learning. Live, learn, run.
The Week that Turned My Whole Being’s Training Around
by Doreen Redmond
If you want to be a writer….write.
If you want to be a runner….run.
What a simple yet profound starter for anything. While I’ve been known to tell a good tale, I’ve always been in awe of writers. I can speak to large crowds (just don’t get me to read a speech); I love lightening rounds in debates; and I can stand on a soap box with the best of them. But get me to write my thoughts down in a coherent fashion… I draw a blank and procrastinate. One of my goals in this past training cycle was to get at least one attempt at a running-themed blog for my coach. But there was a little problem: I was just 2 weeks away from goal raceday….typical!
As karma would have it, I began crafting this right before Coach Erin sent me her weekly e-mail in response to my weekly log. I was concerned that my entries were a bit over dramatic due to a particularly challenging week. But in the midst of all of that, I was reminded that everything is relative. What may appear to be awful is unrecognizable to others as they never even get a chance to experience it. And, mind does rule over matter. She encouraged me to take one of my entries and turn it into a “blog”.
What follows in bold is a slightly edited version of my journal entry and a credit to Erin for this title.
15 K workout done with Love Training More on my head and Maritime Race Weekend in my heart. Workout = 1M, 2K, 2K,1M @T. Got up a bit earlier to see if I had it in me after the crazy week I just had. I would have enough time to get this done before work. In the early hours of the day, I had an epiphany ….again 😉
Runners get injured….this is not news and there isn’t a runner out there who hasn’t been. I have most definitely been there. I’ve had a traumatic injury that seriously impacted my running. Falling off a bike and shearing my ACL 2 months after a BQ seriously cramped my style.
I’ve had running injuries where it’s nothing like a little physio here and a massage there couldn’t cure. Last year though, I had my first running injury that I ignored. Of course, ignoring an injury leads to a chain of subsequent injuries that can take what seems like forever to heal. What started as a right soleus strain, turned into a left hamstring strain which consequently turned into some delicious glute/IT/TFL action. With lots of work with physio, chiro, osteo, strength training with a personal trainer and a challenging maintenance running plan with our favourite coach….and let’s not forget the constant support of my run crews, I am almost ready to say that I’m beyond 95% recovered.
While I was happy with my progress with running, I was getting frustrated with the how much time this was taking. I know I was running smarter, but I was impatiently waiting for my body to feel uninjured. I was getting frustrated with not knowing if the body discomfort was from the injuries or from an awesome workout. To bad we can’t predict the future….
I have been spending so much time as I’ve gone through this injury-challenged year waiting for my left leg to feel great in order for me to FEEL great about my runs again, that I forgot that at some point I need to KNOW that my legs are OK and feel that I’m strong (and all that good stuff) and then my body will just perform.
And then I had a week….a challenging week. The kind of week where you can only be grateful that you are physically fit and you use that fitness to keep you sane kind of week. The kind of week where you know that your strength is bolstered by those who love you and care for you … and it’s amazing how some moments of clarity can take form.
This was also my last week of training before my target half-marathon race in Fredericton. Much to my dismay, I had to stop my Workout Wednesday before the end of the first interval. I just didn’t have it in me to take the space I needed around the Commons to complete the workout. Instead, I sat on the grass for a low low moment. Thankfully a happy random puppy gave me the energy to do a decent cool down run. I knew my race in Fredericton wouldn’t suffer from this, but I also figured that if I felt up to it I could do this one Friday morning….and so I did.
A series of unrelated yet related events serve as a prelude to my big realization:
I had been thinking of my step-sister in Texas who has just taken her first courageous step into fitness after a massive weight loss and was struggling with how much exercise hurts. I shared with her that after all the fitness stuff I’ve done, it still hurts almost every day. Which can be discouraging. But it’s the mind that has to become stronger to overcome that body hurt and it’s the accomplishment of getting it done even if you know it’s going to hurt….THAT is a beautiful thing. - That morning, I wake up to a a podcast with Tina Muir (Running for Real) and Kelly Roberts (Run Selfie Repeat) focusing on our mind and what it will do to our will & our body (positively or negatively).
- I had just read Coach Erin’s blog on her epic Big Sur marathon experience that exemplifies not to forget the beautiful things (amongst many other gems) during our runs.
- Michelle Kempton’s recent podcast in Canadian Running was bouncing in my head. Resilience is a beautiful thing and there are few that exemplify this more than our Michelle.
- I ran by Denise Robson just as I was beginning my first interval who gave me a early morning shout. This LEGEND probably had no clue who I was, but she gave me such a boost and brought me back to another whole set of memories of a MRW panel we were on together with Dave Nevitt, Malcolm Pain and Ray Moorehead (now…who’s the odd one out in that picture but that’s another story but the moral is that there are more ties that bind runners than those that separate them).
All of these thoughts during warm up. And then….I just knew I had this.
My clothing choices that day clearly helped as I was wearing the LTM buff (running strategy, the mind fierceness and get ‘er doneness seeping into the brain) and a MRW shirt (resilience and spirit enveloping my heart). My jogs between the intervals were significantly shorter and I wasn’t feeling like I was desperate to have the interval finished. I almost contained my threshold and felt good for the rest of the day.
During my cool down I couldn’t stop thinking about how good it feels to have my brain KNOW I can accomplish the run. The body still had a tough workout; it’s never easy…it’s not supposed to be. The body did not break apart and FELT good. I know this may sound that I may be stunned and that it takes a whole lot of repetitive events to get me to realize something quite basic but there you go….adult learning at it’s best!
I kept on looking for the beautiful or inspiring things that I could refer to if I were to ever write a blog about today’s run but I was distracted and mesmerized by the thousands of worms that I was trying not to squish during my intervals…
So how did race day go at the 40th running of the Fredericton Marathon’s 21.1km? I fell a bit short so not quite as expected, but it was strangely satisfying. We are not defined by our runs and races.
I managed to follow the race plan….relatively speaking. I allowed unexpected events to distract, but finished quite well with a reminder of the 40% rule; when you think you’re done, you’ve got 40% more to give. Of course now, with more lessons learned and I am looking forward to the next one!
My blogging career ? Now that’s another thing. This is not easy. However, I do think I need to start writing more. They say that to accomplish dreams you need to ink it, not just think it.
So I am not sure where I’ll go with this, but maybe I can get something on squished earthworms….just kidding!
