Happy New Year!
It’s the heart of winter, but spring races can now be counted as being weeks, rather than months, away and training has ramped up accordingly. After taking nearly two months to train almost solely aerobically (all speedwork was off the schedule), I’m back into the thick of training in preparation for a road half marathon—my first one since 2013! I’m hopeful that this focus on shorter efforts helps prepare me for some very fast, very intense races later this year.
Nick and I have a similar race calendar for the first few months of the year—a half marathon in February, Chuckanut 50K in March, then a few weeks later Gorge Waterfalls 100K—and while we aren’t racing the same half marathon, our races are only a week apart. This has meant that our training schedules have paralelled each other’s.
Accordingly, our workouts have been similar, though not identical, and it’s been helpful to do them around each other as a means for motivation. This has led to some interesting conversation about how we conceptualize pacing for workouts, particularly when we know we’ll be standing on the starting line next to athletes who are, by all accounts, much, much faster on paper. How do I stay true to my own 10K pace during a workout if I know an athlete I’m racing has a 10K PR minutes faster than mine?
Comparison goes hand in hand with sports, but it’s easier than ever to compare ourselves to other athletes. We can keep tabs on anyone we want through training apps like Strava and social media stories and posts on Instagram, and then continue to go deeper by reading interviews, listening to podcasts, following fantasty picks and pre-race predictions. It’s never been more accessible to *think* we know another athlete’s life and, therefore, their training. And we’ve probably never been more wrong because of it.
I don’t think of media of any kind as being inherently negative, and part of what pushes sport forward is comparison—after all, we’re lining up at the start line of a race and asking ourselves to be compared to the runners around us.
Here are some things I know to be true:
We can never know another person’s full life or experience
We can never fully understand the context of another person’s training
We can never know how a race will turn out
We don’t have control over who will show up (or not show up) on race day
We are all individuals who respond differently to training and stress
Here are some things I suggest that all athletes do to avoid getting caught up in the comparison game:
Avoid looking at the entrant’s list unless you know it’s actually helpful for you (I’d wager that this may only be helpful for a very small percentage of athletes, elite or otherwise.)
Avoid inundating yourself with trail running media—diversify your reading beyond training theory, listen to podcasts or audiobooks on other subjects, and expand your social circle and interests beyond running and athletics.
Be mindful of how following other runner’s training may (or may not) impact you. Know that you can always mute a friend’s training updates to avoid feeling comparative about their workout splits or mileage totals.
Be aware of how you use social media, especially heading into races. Tapers are a great time to put energy into other aspects of your life.
I’ll admit that comparison isn’t something I’ve struggled with as I tend to think of myself as an outsider, for better or for worse, and with that has come a reliance on the internal. The best way to avoid the comparison trap is to develop one’s self-worth and create a meaningful life…which looks different to every person. Developing a wide variety of interests and hobbies is a great way to get started.
January Reads
Sometimes I’m in a reading slump and other times I can’t put a book down. So far January has been the latter.
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks
I’ll have more to say in a future post, but this was quick read with a few helpful tips in how to engage with others in a way that’s meaningful. This is a decent summary of the book as a whole: “We understimate how much others want to talk; we underestimate how much we will learn; we underestimate how quickly other people will want to go deep and get personal.” In short, Brooks reminds us that people want to tell us their stories, and all we need to do is listen and ask.
Consent: A Memoir by Jill Ciment
I love books that force nuance and this memoir, written after the passing of the author’s husband, explores the idea of consent: what does it mean that she met her husband when she was 17 and he 47? How does our idea of what that means change (or not) when we learn they stayed together for 45 years until his passing at 93? Ciment is a lovely writer and I appreciate that she doesn’t shy away from asking herself the hard questions, particualry in light of the #metoo movement. NPR asked further questions in this article. To sum it up:
"It's a very complex thing," Ciment says. "Do I think he did something wrong? Yeah. I mean, if I saw men today 47 going after a 17 year old, I would intervene. However, it wasn't a time when people intervened. ... Would I do it differently today? Not for a second."
Your Blue Is Not My Blue: A Missing Person Memoir by Aspen Matis
This was a fast read, but unforutnately a disappointing one. I don’t like giving bad book reviews but can’t recomend it, despite the intriguing title. I’d pass on this.
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Martyr! received a lot of press in the latter half of the year and for good reason: it’s fantastic. I can nitpick about some of the characters in the novel who, I believe, receive too much space in the context of the novel, or I can talk about the martyrs mentioned in the book and how they felt more distracting than illustrative, but these are small annoyances in what is otherwise a fresh, compelling read. And the twist! I won’t say anything else besides that it’s worth your time.
The Hunter by Tana French
While I’ve enjoyed French’s other books, this one didn’t do it for me. Too slow? Too brooding? If you’re in the mood for a good mystery, I’d suggest one of her other novels, like The Searcher, instead.
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo
I enjoyed Lombardo’s more recent book, Same As It Ever Was, and am only halfway through The Most Fun We Ever Had but it’s been a good nighttime read. I’m curious to see how it develops.
Links
There’s a simplicty to living in British Columbia that I’ve missed. Canada has problems similar to the US in many ways, but I also don’t recall stumbling upon a news article like this while living in California, Arizona or Washington.
What do you do when you can’t run? Raz of Running Sucks spoke with Nick a few weeks ago and you can find out what Nick suggests here! I also highly recommend subscribing to Raz’s Substack if you don’t already.
On that note, if you’re looking for help navigating the mental side of endurance sports (confidence, self-doubt, pre-race anxiety, insecurity, your identity as a runner, imposter syndrom, etc) set up a call with Nick.
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I’d love to hear your thoughts on comparison in sport. And, as always, I’m interested in any books you might recommend.
Great read Jade ! I really liked some of the pointers provided to stay out of the comparison game, like avoiding looking at start lists and such.
I think one of the best parts of trail running is the fact that road/track PRs don’t always directly translate to a trail race. Yes, speed is a huge factor, but there are so many other things in play during trail races.
As a fellow “outsider” (and runner who is pretty new to competing), I resonate with your strategies for avoiding the pitfalls of comparison—particularly leading into a race. Good stuff here, as usual! ☺️