You Don't Need Genes to Work Hard

I appreciate most things about running but my favorite thing as of late has been the capacity to work hard. Of course, I love when I’m in flow and everything feels easy, but when I really think about it, I prefer the hard moments much more. Thankfully for me, hard moments happen consistently in my training so I am never far away from the discomfort I seek. I’m not sure what is it lately, but I wake up in gratitude for every mile, for every step, and hard running allows me to feel those miles even more. I think I read this from Dean Karnazes, but it rings true for me today. The experience of running, the good, the hard and the gross, those feelings are when I feel most alive. They are when I am expressing my truest self.

The thing about hard work is that I don’t need the genes or leg speed or super shoes to do it. There is really nothing stopping me from exerting effort and getting uncomfortable. When my focus is related to finding how far I can push my body or how long I can remain in the discomfort, results cease to be important and records meaningless. There is really only my body, my brain and the amount of work I can do that day.

For a long while I think I was waiting for the day when running fast felt easy. I finally understood that it doesn’t get easier, I simply ran faster in the same discomfort. I didn’t want to remain at the pace I was even when it became easy. I wanted to find out how the hard work I was doing would translate to faster times or longer efforts. Now when running feels easy (I mean this on workout days, I do think 80% of running should be easy effort) I know I can readjust my expectations or modify efforts.

Right now, I am in a period of training that does not require all out efforts or intervals. I completed that section of training in February and March and have switched focus after Gorge to a more tempo focused plan utilizing longer sustained efforts at a slower pace. My hard work had gone from quick matches to a slower burn that I feel at in the last few minutes of intervals. If I feel the burn too early in my interval, I am most likely going too fast, which is not the point of the interval. My training isn’t sexy, it’s consistent. Sometimes consistency and sticking to what I know about my body and about training is also hard work. It’s fun to crush hard workouts on the track. I love how I feel running around that orange oval and I love training with my friends who are running very fast right now. However, my hard work is in a different phase and crushing one workout with Chelsea might destroy the body I am building right now.

I write these words to remind myself to stay on my path. I write this to reiterate that I do not need genes or fast track workouts or vert to still work hard. I have been and can be successful using the training that has worked yet tweak it for the task at the end of June.

Hard work comes in many forms and the best part is that I can find the work that will get me where I need to be for my 100 miler in June. The best part is that the hard work is what gets me most excited today. I’m not looking for an easy ride, but to find meaning in the work along the way.

See you in Olympic Valley.