I have the post-race blues after the Barkley Fall Classic. It always happens, especially after a race as awesome as that one. I think it is because training is just so boring. I often times wonder about the insanity of sticking to a training schedule - a little number in an Excel spreadsheet that dictates everything about my running life. If it were up to me - and time and money wasn't an issue - I would just do a few easy jogs each week and run a race every weekend.
You wouldn't think monotony would be the case. There are so many variables that revolve around training runs. Early morning, lunch time, or evening? Hill repeats, track, route around town? Am I going to run intervals? Will it be speed intervals with a slower jog recovery, or an easy run pace with a walking recovery? Do I want to run a negative split run, or an even pace? Should I run by heart rate or not? Do I want to push hard on the uphills, push hard on the downhills, or keep an even effort level through the entire run? Do I want to run alone or with a group?
Despite my tendency to do a wide variety of these running styles, after a few weeks I tend to feel like I'm in a rut. I wake up and have no desire to go run. I think of how dumb it is that I'm setting my alarm at 4:26am to go do a training run - because that is the only time that works well for my schedule. I think about my college self, who would often times still be up from the night before at this time. I think of my young parent self, who would wake up all hours of the night with our children and be exhausted the next day. I think of those same kids, who now when they wake up "early" they are still getting up more than 2 hours later than me. And yet, I am choosing to do this! What is wrong with me?
I look at the light posts and can literally see the humidity in the air. I think how much training through the North Carolina summer sucks, and I wish fall would hurry up and get here. I've read articles that say when the dew point is over 70, you should either have extremely low expectations for your run, or consider skipping your run altogether and wait for it to be better conditions. The alternative to the high humidity is to wait until later in the day, when the humidity might drop a bit but then the temperature climbs up to the 90s or higher. It feels like we have been dealing with this weather since March, and it seems it will never end.
I think of the absurdity of driving my car 15 minutes each way to go run with a group of like-minded people, which most likely will split up because everyone is running their own pace and I may end up left behind to run in the dark alone. I think about how it would be easier to just run around the neighborhood for the 100th time, but then I might set the alarm for later, like 5:30am. That generally turns into "why not wait until lunch?", and I end up working through my lunch hour, which turns into an exhausting day and an inevitable skipped training day. So we are back to the car and driving down the road when everyone else is still asleep, and wondering what I'm doing with my life. What is wrong with me?
Then it happens. After getting out of the car and all geared up with lights, the feet start slowly moving. I think this might not be so bad, after I work out some of the kinks from yesterday's run or rest. I usually take the first mile or so pretty easy, just to let the heart rate slowly rise and get my legs loosened. Today was a 15 minute warm up before the group meetup at 5:30. I join another dozen runners for the run club's "run of the day." Today is a 4.4 mile road run with rolling hills, with a mile or so where it flattens out. The pace felt easy, yet I was able to keep up with a group of runners. We were chatting about races and other things so the hills passed quite easily. As the run went on, the pace quickened yet my legs still felt strong. Heart rate and breathing was under control.
Suddenly, my previous hate of training becomes a love of training. Complaining about the weather seems ridiculous, because I know putting in hard efforts in hard conditions will pay off in spades when the weather changes (hopefully by the time race season comes around). Every training run is like a drop in a bank account, and come race day when it is time to make that withdrawal I want to have as much as possible built up. Waking up early is a logical choice - I always feel better after a run and now I will have this feeling for several hours throughout my work day. And I will be able to relax in the evening hanging out with my wife and playing with my kids. Who needs sleep anyways? The route was the same as last week, but that also makes it familiar, so I know what is to come. It is a great feeling to know when I need to back off a bit and when I can push. And if I had just ran alone in the neighborhood, I would not have had the encouragement of other runners, my friends who will push me to reach my goals as they strive to reach their own. I enjoy the quiet car ride home to cool off and reflect on how great of a run I just had.
Do all training runs end this way? Of course not, it can't always be all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes I feel like "everything hurts and I'm dying" and I continue my hatred of the training run. But NOT TODAY! That will have to wait for some other time...
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