Training Through Autumn
Exploring the mental side of training, improving speed long-term and some animal updates
I love coming home from travel. That only increases when I’m returning from a different time zone and my circadian rhythm has been reset. After landing back in Vancouver after two weeks away in Europe for World’s, Nick and I were waking up at 4 am. Those early mornings meant we were ready for bed by 7:30 pm. Rather than adjust back, we decided to lean into this new schedule and continued going to bed early. A month later, we’re still on this new schedule and neither of us want to change back.
Part of that is because of the early morning hours we have to write our athletes’ training schedules, respond to emails we might otherwise procrastinate writing, and use our creative energy before it gets sucked away by the day. By 8 am we’ve put in three hours of work and it’s just beginning to get light enough to see outside.
We’re lucky in that our jobs are flexible; coaching can be done anytime, anywhere, and Nick’s work as a mental performance consultant typically takes place in the late morning or early afternoon. We also don’t have kids, although we do have six raucous cats and dogs that demand to be fed immediately upon waking. Our life feels somewhat simple, especially since moving to a more rural part of BC’s Lower Mainland. We’re not missing out on much by going to bed so early.
Said raucous cats (sound on!)
This new routine has timed well with the introduction of work I’ve started to do with a sports psychologist. Scott has suggested a number of new tools, including meditation. An earlier wake up means there’s built in quiet time for meditation during the morning. It’s not long and it’s not complicated. After feeding the cats and dogs and rabbits and guinea pig, letting the dogs outside, and refilling empty water bowls, I head upstairs to my office. Cashew sits on the floor or the chair next to me and then I find one of the simple meditations from the UCLA Mindful App. It’s a free app and there are only a handful of options. The simplicity of it all has allowed for consistency; there’s less to push back against when the action itself requires little time or choice.
I’ve also added visualization work, which is something that I try to practice during harder sessions. Since I have a race coming up in a few weeks, I’ve used this time to visualize the course I’ll be running. I even printed out a few photos of the race and taped them to the wall: black and white photos of last year’s winners. At first this felt excessive and silly. But I also want to do everything within my power to reach my potential, wherever that lies. If I’m maxing out the miles and training my body can handle, why not turn over the mental stones I haven’t yet explored?
Every time I walk into my office and stare at these race photos of two individuals I’ve never actually met, it gets a little less weird. Maybe even a little more familiar?
Scott has also challenged me to make time to reflect on and celebrate the training that I’ve done, ahead of whatever may happen at the race. After more than 8 years working with my running coach, Megan, I’ve never trained quite like this, with a focus on this sort of speed. I’ve done track workouts and long intervals on the road, and I’m seeing paces I’ve never seen before. It’s easy to look at training as a means to an end (the race), but it’s gratifying in a longer lasting way to see how far one has come.
There are some workouts that Megan gave me back in the summer of 2017 that she still gives me today. For example, 8/6/4/2/1 minute uphill intervals at roughly threshold effort. I get these same workouts today, but with an additional 10 minutes at the beginning.
I ran this 8/6/4/2/1 minute hill workout on November 1, 2017 in San Diego, California:
My 8 minute uphill effort was run at a grade adjusted pace (GAP) of 6:30 minutes per mile, while my 1 minute effort was run at a GAP of 5:56 minutes per mile. I was 25 years old.
Last Wednesday, I ran this workout in Maple Ridge, British Columbia:
Now, eight years later and tens of thousands of miles between, I’m running each of my uphill efforts more than a minute per mile faster: my 10 minute effort is run at 5:32-5:37 mile GAP, my 8 minute effort at 5:25-5:32 mile GAP, and so on.
Similarly, my speed on flat ground has improved. On August 23, 2017, I ran this workout, again in San Diego:
Megan used to assign me both 30 minute and 60 minute “power hour” workouts where I was told to run the pace I could hold for about one hour maximum. In 2017, this was around a 7-minute mile.
Things look different eight years later:
I’m no longer given these “power hour” workouts, but in preparation for my next race, I am assigned a lot of threshold work. This was a total of 45 minutes of work, so I think it’s still a decent comparison and shows how years of training has helped me go from running 7 minutes per mile to about 5:35 minutes per mile at the same heart rate.
All this to say: celebrate the work that you’ve put in, outside of the validation that may or may not come from races. Regardless of how my race goes in a few weeks, I get to hold onto the satisfaction that comes from knowing I put in years and years of work to slowly get faster. One day I’ll find my potential for speed and I’ll inevitably get slower. At that time I’ll hope to set myself other goals unrelated to pace—continued mental growth or better problem solving.
Importantly, too: I enjoyed running then and I enjoy running now. That’s the biggest win of all.
Additional updates:
Mohi had surgery to repair his ruptured tendon three weeks ago, and earlier this week his bandage was removed. He’s healing well and will be back to jumping off of everything soon (he can’t be stopped, even at nearly 9 years old!)
We’re celebrating Cashew’s 12th birthday today!
Fall mushroom season is underway and we’ve had the chance to find a number of edible species while on runs and walks!
Some of our recent finds: Veiled oyster, Zeller's bolete, Pine (matsutake), Chanterelle, Admirable Bolete and a reishi.
Wishing you a joyful fall!
Amazing accomplishment with your training!! You are so strong! I love the emphasis on celebrating your successes
wonderful news about Mohi. and Scrams is 12 too! (senior dogs are hard)