212 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...
A wonderful, inspiring person I've come to know over the last couple of days - Jennifer Schubert-Akin, a 3 time Leadville Trail 100 finisher. Jennifer posted an invitation on the LT100 listserv inviting others to read her Leadville race journal from 2008 when she finished 29:49:02. If you would like to read it - it is a great read, you can email her at jschubertakin@marathonaccounting.com and she will share it with you. You might think I admire her because she beat my time by nearly 9 minutes. That is true but there are several other reasons as well. If you read her story you will learn that she did not have much time to spare at the cutoffs, especially from mile 50-100. She also had the pleasure of being paced by Leadville 100 creator Ken Chlouber up and over Hope Pass. Jennifer's resolve, steadiness, and sense of purpose was moving. If you have ever run Leadville you will know what I mean. She offers a great description of the course, I felt like I was back on it even though it has been more than 4 1/2 years since I've paced and 6 1/2 years since I ran it. Jennifer embodies the spirit of what Leadville is all about and I'm excited to meet her when I travel to Colorado this summer. Thanks Jennifer!
Why am I writing about this? I think this is a perfect example of accountability and camaraderie (mixed in with some laziness and justification on my part). We've had some great people join us in our workouts over the past 6 months but Rick has been as loyal and consistent as anyone could be. We have done a few things without each other but it is pretty rare. Part of me didn't want to work out this morning without him because "we are in this Leadville training together" and it felt like I was abandoning him. The other part was using the justification that more sleep is always good for the body and that 2 marathons coming up this weekend was deserving of another day of rest.
Should I feel guilty about resting on a day when I wasn't planning to? I'm also not doing any running tomorrow, although I may play basketball in the morning. Maybe I should feel guilty but I don't. I enjoyed my sleep. I know I will work hard this weekend and will continue to work hard until August. I also worked out Mon, Tues, Wed and will run on Sat and Sun - so 5 days out of 7 is not really slacking off. Leadville training is a long road and it is important to not take weeks off but a few days or consecutive days here or there is probably a good thing - my body always feels refreshed when it gets a little reprieve.
A wonderful, inspiring person I've come to know over the last couple of days - Jennifer Schubert-Akin, a 3 time Leadville Trail 100 finisher. Jennifer posted an invitation on the LT100 listserv inviting others to read her Leadville race journal from 2008 when she finished 29:49:02. If you would like to read it - it is a great read, you can email her at jschubertakin@marathonaccounting.com and she will share it with you. You might think I admire her because she beat my time by nearly 9 minutes. That is true but there are several other reasons as well. If you read her story you will learn that she did not have much time to spare at the cutoffs, especially from mile 50-100. She also had the pleasure of being paced by Leadville 100 creator Ken Chlouber up and over Hope Pass. Jennifer's resolve, steadiness, and sense of purpose was moving. If you have ever run Leadville you will know what I mean. She offers a great description of the course, I felt like I was back on it even though it has been more than 4 1/2 years since I've paced and 6 1/2 years since I ran it. Jennifer embodies the spirit of what Leadville is all about and I'm excited to meet her when I travel to Colorado this summer. Thanks Jennifer!
A perfect day to blog - a day I won't do anything physically taxing :o) My main workout buddy Rick texted at 4:30 am that his quad was sore and wanted to know if I was okay with him taking the day off. Note that this request did not mean that I had to take the day off too but guess what I did? Even though I was already dressed and ready to meet him at the Y when I saw this text at 5:02 a.m., I slipped my shoes off and went back to bed! Nobody stopped me from going to work out and I was fully prepared to work out but I used Rick's sore quadricep as justification for me going back to bed :o) I can assure you that if Rick had not texted, I would have worked out this morning.
Why am I writing about this? I think this is a perfect example of accountability and camaraderie (mixed in with some laziness and justification on my part). We've had some great people join us in our workouts over the past 6 months but Rick has been as loyal and consistent as anyone could be. We have done a few things without each other but it is pretty rare. Part of me didn't want to work out this morning without him because "we are in this Leadville training together" and it felt like I was abandoning him. The other part was using the justification that more sleep is always good for the body and that 2 marathons coming up this weekend was deserving of another day of rest.
Should I feel guilty about resting on a day when I wasn't planning to? I'm also not doing any running tomorrow, although I may play basketball in the morning. Maybe I should feel guilty but I don't. I enjoyed my sleep. I know I will work hard this weekend and will continue to work hard until August. I also worked out Mon, Tues, Wed and will run on Sat and Sun - so 5 days out of 7 is not really slacking off. Leadville training is a long road and it is important to not take weeks off but a few days or consecutive days here or there is probably a good thing - my body always feels refreshed when it gets a little reprieve.
2 comments:
Great thoughts John! I have had those days as well and I think sometimes you just need your body to relax and let your mind be at ease. A day or two in the big picture is not going to hurt. In reality, I feel it will help you! I know exactly what you mean on the accountability piece and having workout partners...I think it is one of the biggest assets to have when leading a healthy lifestyle!
Thanks Chad. All is good - hoping the weather cooperates a bit for this weekend :o)
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