You Can Leave Your Watch Off

Awhile back I was getting ready to do an easy 7 mile run. As I went out the door I realized I had spent almost 10 minutes looking for my watch. While running I wondered, what was the urgency for having a watch on this run? It was over a familiar area,it wasn't a tempo run or time trial,so why the need for a watch?
I started thinking how wearing a watch less for runs would be a good idea.
Consider this--ever go out for what you believe is going to be an easy run over a route you've run many times and found yourself checking your time at certain points along the way? Have you looked at your watch and thought, "I'm a minute and half off where I usually am at this point," then picked up the pace either consciously or subconsciously? What was originally intended to be an easy recovery run then became something else.
How many of you have done tempo runs,intervals,or time trials and found yourself obsessively checking your watch as you go? I certainly did it at one time and have seen countless other runners over the years doing it.
I think it would be wise if many of us rethought our use of watches in training and used effort as the gauge instead of timepieces. Cerutty once said: "Elliot may run faster than me but never harder." It is the effort put out that determines the time,so why the preoccupation with timing and the reliance on it has a determinent as to whether or not you had a "good" workout?
Of course the watch can be an aid to training but it is often the disruptor,inhibitor and discourager to training(forgive the grammar).
Who knows why we sometimes run fast and smooth one day,and not so fast and smooth another.In some ways I think that it's just part of the way it goes in training.We shouldn't allow ourselves to be discouraged by these ebbs and flows,it's all part of the process.
Free up your training,try leaving your watch at home.

The Best Morning

An Early Friday Morning Run

Dawn breaks over the trees in Chesnut Ridge Park,
it's quarter to six on a Friday morn.
Alone as I lace up my shoes,
it's perfectly still except for the birds greeting a new day.
The air is crisp and pure,
neither warm nor cool.
I am alone yet totally at peace,
running down a pristine trail banked by trees and ferns.
I realize what is truly important,
I understand why I am here.

Nine Necessary Qualities Needed to Achieve Athletic Success

Dr James Loehr writes that there are nine qualities an athlete must have to attain athletic success. Read the following and evaluate how you stack up against the nine steps. Are there any areas you need to work on? The comments made below the numbered qualities are by Joe Vigil, the outstanding former distance running coach at Adams State College
An athlete must:
"1. Be self-motivated and self-directed.
Motivation and direction comes from within.
2.Be positive but realistic.
The athlete's tradenark is a blend of realism and optimism,with an eye always fixed on success,on what can happen and what is possible.
3.Be in control of his or her emotions.
Anger,frustration,and fear must be controlled or they most certainly will control you.
4.Be calm and relaxed under fire.
Athletes don't avoid pressure. They are challenged by it and are at their best when the pressure is on and the odds are against them.
5.Be highly energetic and ready for action.
The athlete is his own igniter and can do this inspite of fatigue,personal problems or 'bad luck.'
6.Be determined.
They are relentless in their pursuit of  goals.Setbacks are taken in stride as they move forward.
7.Be mentally alert.
Athletes are capable of long and intensive periods of total concentration.They are capable of tuning in that which is important and tuning out that which is not,regardless of the pressure.The athlete has attention control.
8.Be doggedly self confident.
The athlete must display a nearly unshatterable sense of confidence in their ability to perform well.They do not succumb to self defeating thoughts and ideas.
9.Be fully responsible.
The athlete must take responsibility for his or her own actions.There are no excuses.They must be fully aware that their destiny,as an athlete,is in their own hands."

An excellent comprehensive list with relevant,thought provoking comments by Vigil.
So what areas do you need to work on?

The One Thing You Must Not Forget

As human beings we are all capable of change,mentally and physically. The big question is, do we want to change and do we believe a change can actually happen?
Emil Zatopek,who won the gold at the 1952 Olympics in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters and the marathon, has something to say about this:
"By a persistent effort of will it is possible to change the whole body. The athlete must always keep in mind this concept of change and progression; he must never accept his limitations as being permanent,because they are not."
Emil was living proof of the validity of that quote.
The logical question is, are we accepting our perceived limitations as being permanent?

Is Your Racing In A Rut?

Early writings by Joe Henderson are filled with much relevant and useable info.
Joe was a runner first and then he was in on the formative days of Runner's World when it stressed mileage and performance.
Consider the following self-evaluation which helps to determine if your racing or training has bogged down or is in a rut.Sometimes we runners just don't see or ignore the fact that we are.This of course will prevent us from improving and fully enjoying our running experience. Ask yourself:
1. "Do you insist on matching to the minute the amounts of training ordered by the schedule?
2.Are you nagged by chronic low-grade aches and pains that you must not allow to interfere with your program?
3.Do you frequently get bored with your training but still run your daily quotas?
4.Do you often find yourself dreading and delaying the start of your runs until you can psych yourself up to do them?
5.Would you stop training as you do if the races races didn't require it of you?
6.Before races,do you magnify every minor physical complaint into a race threatening crisis?
7.Have your racing times stopped improving even though you work as hard as ever?
8.Are your confidence and enthusiasm badly shaken by any racing slump?
9.After races,are you more likely to complain about what went wrong than to bring up what went right?
10.Have you come to expect better results from yourself than you can produce?
The more you answer yes,the more sure you can be that you have raced yourself into a rut. If more than half of those questions describe you,ease up on yourself. The training and the racing are running you--rather than vice versa."

How true that last line is, 'The training and racing are running you---rather than vice versa.'
 I know runners who have driven themselves crazy because they just don't recognize that they are in what Henderson aptly describes as a rut.
 How 'bout you?

To Live Life Fully By Percy Cerutty

Percy Cerutty believed quite correctly that with the body properly trained and honed, a person was best able to take on the challenges of this world. Consider the following:
"That without strength,efficient organs,intelligence and an absence of secret fears man is only a parody,and for him life cannot be fully lived. He does not dominate his enviroment,it is the enviroment that dominates him.Such a man is not free. Only the mentally free and the physically strong can live this type of life to the full.Nature ordains it this way.There is no catch to it.Nature favors the fit."
There is a confidence and self-assurance that just seems to be a part of the person who trains his whole body on a regular basis. I am not only talking about getting in your daily five miles here,I'm talking about other exercises and types of training routines which ultimately challenge you and build character.
Consider the above and ask yourself, are you doing enough?

When Arthur Lydiard Speaks.....

It would be no exaggeration to say that Arthur Lydiard developed  the modern day distance training program. Initially using himself as a guinea pig in the process of formulating his program, he went on to become the coaches coach and all around ambassador for running. His book, Run To the Top, written in 1962 with Garth Gilmour, was about his schedules and thoughts on running.
Another thing people may not know about Arthur is that Bill Bowerman, University of Oregon coaching legend and Nike co-founder, visited Lydiard in New Zealand in the early 60's. Bowerman saw first hand the "jogging" for the masses that Lydiard espoused in his book Run For Your Life(1965) and all the benefits that went with it. After returning to the States he wrote Jogging(1967) which is credited with starting a jogging boom here.
So, when Arthur Lydiard speaks, serious athletes should all listen, consider the following:
"Your schedules are only for guidance.Study your reactions to training from day to day and if you feel jaded or suffer from any soreness allow time for recovery.
Never do speed training when your muscles are sore or you are feeling very tired.Just jog easily,irrespective of what is on the schedule for that day's training.You can never do yourself any harm by jogging and it will usually help to overcome the soreness or tiredness.
Control your training so that you are not racing it,except when full efforts are called for in the schedules.Run strongly and easily in effort,always keeping something in reserve.As you feel improvement,gradually increase your training tempo but never use that reserve."
A common mistake by rookies and  runners who can't control their anxiety is not being able to back- off. They believe that any letting up on, or changing a workout to accomodate their physical condition, will negatively effect racing performance.This of course is nonsense.Easy jogging when feeling overly tired or sore, in place of "gutting out" a training session that will  ultimately be debilitating instead of constructive, allows the body to recover and come back strong.
As a sidenote,studies have shown that a conditioned runner will lose only 5% of his fitness if he does no running for a week.I would quickly add that this percentage increases if the inactivity goes into 2 and 3 weeks.
It's become a cliche but we must "listen to our bodies" and not treat them as if they were machines.