Over time, or more precisely, over the last year and a half, a seemingly obvious statement has become more obvious: racing's fun and training is the slightly less fun (albeit enjoyable, most of the time) means to getting desireable results.
Decent overall fitness and a lot of willpower can get decent results but as one approaches those in the front of the pack it becomes more and more apparent: the people ahead of you trained harder and smarter than you did. Maybe they put in more time, maybe it was more miles, maybe they pushed it harder at just the right times, maybe they recovered better, maybe they ate better, maybe they went further out of their way to train in race-like conditions and terrain. Look, the list of ways to train harder and smarter goes on but seldom is it raw talent alone that places one over another: at least in the front.
I've found myself finishing in the top 10-15 at a few local, but fairly competitive races I've joined in this year. I've trained a bit more than I did when I first started running and found a formula that combines quality and some quantity that really seems to work. It's been really encouraging to see the improvement.
What's slightly discouraging about all of this is where I've arrived as a result of this improvement. Now, as I look at finishers ahead of me, I see hardened training machines and I am both inspired and nervous when toeing up to compete. Will I, or do I, have the commitment it takes to take the next step?
While I stated that I've indeed found a training formula that works I have only one problem: life. I work in the family biz 6 days a week and a 12 hour day is not unusual. I've got commitments at to my family and home like any other happily married person and father of a dog and two cats (don't laugh, I make sure they are fed and know that they are loved). I want to train more but when I make the extra effort (take the time) I feel selfish and can literally see things begin to unravel at work and at home (tensions/comparisons to co-workers and weeds in the yard).
It's tough to find balance. Right now I just feel lucky to get out at all. As a result, every run now has a purpose: strength, turnover, recovery and even a few that are just for fun/social. I'm trying to add a bit more racing to my schedule at the moment to see how well I can race, recover, push it just a bit, recover a bit and race, then repeat. July will be tougher than June but with my "A" race in August I am going to have to work hard to carve out the time (read: get up at 4 am) to put the hay in the barn.
I hate reading these types of whining posts from other dork run bloggers but I felt like writing these thoughts would help me realize where I am at and where I need to go. It did that. Sort of...
On another note, my wine drinking habit has risen to new levels of achievement. Kattie is now gainfully employed (on the only 2 days of the week she didn't work before--what was formerly known as the weekend) by a top grade vineyard and winery called Domaine Serene. As an added benefit of her expressing her awesomeness to customers there she gets quite a load of spendy wine on top of her pay. Needless to say we have been stashing some like classy people do and pouring the rest into our souls like bosses do.
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