Kim Jong-il, ultra running and me.
My running went to a whole new level today, and it's really rather exciting. After a six-day working week, which culminates in what is always a difficult transition from early shift to then doing two graveyard shifts, I'm normally capable of little more than a token run, if that. Today I thought would be no exception, and I donned the running shoes with no plan other than to see how things went, and if all was well, to try and put in about an hour's effort, although that seemed beyond credibility, such was my state of mental imbroglio and physical lassitude.
Instead, I surprised myself by completing a 1h40m work-out at a slightly faster than normal pace, but the real shock that had me shaking my head with wonder was the absolute ease with which I ran it. It seemed like the proverbial walk in the park and I kept pinching myself to be sure I wasn't dreaming it all. I was left with the very clear sensation of having ramped my fitness level up a notch; of having made that quantum leap to a higher plateau, and at a time when I least expected it. It will take further sessions to verify whether that really is the case, or if perhaps today was just a freak, but I've experienced this before in previous campaigns and it really does feel like that rare sensation you get when you've put in the work and are rewarded with an open door to the next inner sanctum of fitness nirvana. It really does make all the effort worthwhile and engages a new fifth gear of enthusiasm that has me scouring maps for new running routes and scanning the race calendar for new events I can train for.
Thus far, 13 days into March I have completed 94.5 kilometres, meaning I am well on the way to hitting my target of 200km for the month, which is my vague, general target for what I consider to be a 'good' calendar month of training. Given my physio's demand that I do not run on consecutive days, this is about as realistically high a target as I can set without taking considerable time off work and from other commitments. I only rarely hit it, but when I do, it makes such a difference to my fitness levels and general well-being that I am constantly surprised I don't make the effort every month. As we know, however, motivation is a fickle beast, and the descent from the highly motivated state to one of inertia is, for me, cruelly rapid.
To get me through the dark, lean times I watch inspiring videos of endurance events: ironman triathlons, ultramarathons and mountaineering campaigns chief among them. Not everyone is the same, however, and different people use different forms of motivation, of course. I was watching one such video recently, a simple video diary compiled by a runner as he completed the 205-mile Bigfoot Ultramarathon through Washington State in the USA. For motivation, or I suspect more likely to simply keep his mind off what he was actually doing, he had his pacer read aloud Kim Jong-il's treatise on socialism as they ran. Not probably my choice of inspiration for an endurance run (and me, a leftie from way back), but hey, whatever works for you, I guess.
Yet, these oddities and differences between us also inspire me. I have to say however that it is highly unlikely I could ever be convinced that running for three days to complete a 200-mile trail run was anything but an absurd idea, at least for myself. It is inspiring in the extreme, however, to see others complete them, and to translate that down by several orders of magnitude to what I hope to achieve on my far more modest level. Hey, I don't mean by that, that I would never run an ultra; in fact, there are several that are greatly appealing to me, but they are far shorter than 200 miles!
No, we'll get there one step at a time ... pretty much literally, when you think about it. For the moment, though, the enthusiasm is high and I don't mind looking a little further into the future than usual. Not too far away is winter, which is always a challenge for me, and if I'm honest, my single greatest goal this year is to quite simply get through winter without reducing my training levels, for it has been too many years (four, to be exact) since I had even a moderately successful winter campaign. The key for me, in order to run a few good races in the second half of the year, is to simply get through winter in good shape and with a suitably large number of kilometres in the training log. If I can do that, then I believe I can afford to dream a little.
A good training plan, well-written and carefully constructed can be a fantastic substitute for the difficult business of actual running, and all too many times I have been guilty of that offence. This year, this winter, to be precise, it must be all about the action.
Kim Jong-il, not that what he thought about things really matters a jot, would probably approve. I know those ultra runners certainly would.
March Too Much
