episode 53: Have the Meaning of Running Changed?

Training for a marathon PR by running hill intervals on this bicycle ramp.

This is a quick update of my training to run a marathon in 3 hours and 15 minutes in December. Earlier this year, I posted weekly updates of my progress, sharing my training and diet habits.

I stopped the posts awhile back. There were a few reasons, which I will get into in a moment. But I just want to let everyone know that the goal hasn’t changed and I’m making progress.

So why did I stop updating?

First, I really, really, really DID NOT enjoy keeping a food diary, documenting everything that I ate for the week. Yes, it did enable me to pin point when and how I slipped, but it also made me laser-focused on what I did wrong, which were actually quite minor compared to what I was doing right on the holistic level. For me, fitness, health and wellness are about taking care of your body the majority of the time so that it can handle the occasional indulgence. And let’s be honest, all proper all the time is no fun right?

Second, now that I’ve run more, the meaning of running has evolved. It’s still about the peace and challenge, but for the challenge element, time and distance no longer play such prominent roles. Running has become an activity that allows me to face discomforts head on and conquering them. Improvements in regards to time and distance are just byproducts. 

The past few months, I’ve stopped tracking distance and time during runs, and mostly gauged with intensity felt by my body. Though the 3:15-marathon goal was made earlier this year before the mentality shift, I plan to honor it. The actual time goal, however, doesn’t mean much to me now. It’s about the process of fighting through pain during training and, when the time comes, the actual race in December.

Third, those posts just weren’t that interesting, and they were the worst performing posts (HA!). 

Strangely, I was struggling with discipline, particularly with clean eating, while I was updating weekly, which was initiated to keep myself accountable.

Since then, I’ve switched jobs, started a personal project, coached new clients in different time zones and basically had my well-oiled routine turned upside down. Changes in my daily life had typically disrupted my healthy habits in the past, yet, I’ve found the motivation to eat better and even do the painful high-intensity interval trainings regularly during this transitional period.

Perhaps, it’s the more laid-back attitude or maybe it's a new focus on positivity instead of what went wrong. I don’t know, and I don’t really need an answer. Whatever it is, it’s working great.

So all that being said, a target set (though a dated target) means a target that needs to be hit, so I did time a tempo run earlier this week to see where I'm at. I still have a lot of work to do, but progress is apparent.

I want to end this post with 3 quotes I saw recently. They hit me in head and heart real hard, and I’m not sure what they have to do with this post. It just feels right to include them here.

“You cannot hate both these things at the same time: 1) Status quo 2) Change” - unknown.

“Pain is just weakness leaving the body” - unknown

and last but not least...

“Pursue something so important that even if you fail, the world is better off with you having tried." - Tim O'Reilly

I hope they have the same impact on you as well. Would love to hear what you think?

Happy running.

You can also follow my running adventures on https://www.facebook.com/pages/3-dudes-on-ultra-mission/271137916280936 or https://twitter.com/williewenli