Despite some running setbacks in 2013, I did manage to reach a goal: 1000 miles run!
Tag: motivation
The Winter Dulls
My running has taken on a dullness post-PDTR that is more dull than usual this time of years. (While I love running in the snow, I do find it hard to stay motivated during the winter.)
The 50-mile failure, plus the Morton’s neuroma, plus an inexplicable pain in my left foot that took a week to resolve, plus several days of flu-like symptoms, plus the cold and dark have made for many short runs and many days with no running at all. I set a goal of running 1000 miles in 2013 and I’m right where I should be to meet that goal, IF I complete my normal runs. I plan to do that, of course, but it feels really hard at the moment.
My Least Favorite Part of Training
In every training cycle, I reach a low point and I am now at that point.
It typically happens right about the time that my training begins to “take”–when mileage and recovery are happening without too much complaint from both brain and body. But that time tends to correspond with feeling tired and a creeping feeling that I will fail. I begin to worry that my mileage is too low to succeed and that I will not be able to finish my goal event. I have always been able to finish, but I still worry.
As my goal events get longer I am also wrestling with the idea that eventually I will DNF. It seems inevitable, judging from the experiences of ultrarunners, and I know I should accept it, but it’s hard. I’ve been able to get by on patience and stubbornness, if nothing else. Hopefully those two things will serve me well the further I go.
Five weeks from taper…