Scott Jurek quotes a favourite poet of mine, Robert Frost in chapter 1 of Eat & Run;
The best way out is always through.
This has certainly been an underlying philosophy of mine in recent weeks as I have struggled to regain balance during my experiences of some physical and mental ill health. Of course, one could argue that you don’t really have much choice sometimes and you have to just keep going regardless but there are different ways of approaching that, some more or less healthy than others.
The best way out is always through.
This has certainly been an underlying philosophy of mine in recent weeks as I have struggled to regain balance during my experiences of some physical and mental ill health. Of course, one could argue that you don’t really have much choice sometimes and you have to just keep going regardless but there are different ways of approaching that, some more or less healthy than others.

In my last post, I spoke of reviewing the value in the self imposed rigours of a strict training plan, something that had clearly become a stick to beat myself with as opposed to a tool for achieving a desired outcome. As a result, I had derived a new intended method of getting myself, and we hope triumphantly so, to the finish line of the 2015 London Marathon. My new training plan can be summarised as: A speed session, some hill work, a couple of medium/recovery runs and a slow long run in most weeks aiming to be at a point about a month pre marathon where I’m doing up to 50 miles a week, 20 of those in one go about 6 weeks before marathon day with a gentle 2 week taper.
Bam. And that’s all there is to it.
As a teacher who is used to living according to timetables, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed targets, that are incessantly assessed, this vagueness allows room for serious uncertainties and as a perfectionist who needs to know she’s doing all the right things, I had opened up a potential cornucopia of anxieties. This lack of plan would be a significant challenge in its own right. Have you really ever thought about how hard it can be to not do something!? Still, despite the ebbs and flows of up and down moods, energy levels and hormone spikes I have been surfing not just the angst but also the training. And do you know what? It’s been good enough. Not perfect perhaps, there may have been days where I swam instead of ran, there may have been days where I walked instead of swam and I can even recall at least one day where I pulled the blinds, wrapped myself in a blanket and ate an obscene amount of cake instead of even leaving the house but heck, I felt better eventually! I’ve also been learning to recognise achievements even in small quantities, especially when returning to a speeds and distances that I had feared I’d never get back to; ‘OK, I may only have done it for 600m bursts but I still hit 9 mph 6 times…’
As I have been finding it hard to leave the house, I’ve also been doing a lot of, no, OK, be honest, all my running for 2015 on the treadmill in the womblike sanctuary of my gym, the one place I’ve felt able to consistently go on a regular basis. I know this isn’t great in the long term but I’m a self confessed weather-wuss at the best of times and it’s been cold! Anyway, it’s scary out there. It was a great example then of one such minor achievement when I managed my first outdoor run of the year on the 1st of February thanks to Up & Running Manchester’s Marathon Training Run. Ten miles, slow. Just what I needed and a real confidence boost. I’m getting there. I’m getting through. Sometimes, that’s the best you can be doing.
Bam. And that’s all there is to it.
As a teacher who is used to living according to timetables, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timed targets, that are incessantly assessed, this vagueness allows room for serious uncertainties and as a perfectionist who needs to know she’s doing all the right things, I had opened up a potential cornucopia of anxieties. This lack of plan would be a significant challenge in its own right. Have you really ever thought about how hard it can be to not do something!? Still, despite the ebbs and flows of up and down moods, energy levels and hormone spikes I have been surfing not just the angst but also the training. And do you know what? It’s been good enough. Not perfect perhaps, there may have been days where I swam instead of ran, there may have been days where I walked instead of swam and I can even recall at least one day where I pulled the blinds, wrapped myself in a blanket and ate an obscene amount of cake instead of even leaving the house but heck, I felt better eventually! I’ve also been learning to recognise achievements even in small quantities, especially when returning to a speeds and distances that I had feared I’d never get back to; ‘OK, I may only have done it for 600m bursts but I still hit 9 mph 6 times…’
As I have been finding it hard to leave the house, I’ve also been doing a lot of, no, OK, be honest, all my running for 2015 on the treadmill in the womblike sanctuary of my gym, the one place I’ve felt able to consistently go on a regular basis. I know this isn’t great in the long term but I’m a self confessed weather-wuss at the best of times and it’s been cold! Anyway, it’s scary out there. It was a great example then of one such minor achievement when I managed my first outdoor run of the year on the 1st of February thanks to Up & Running Manchester’s Marathon Training Run. Ten miles, slow. Just what I needed and a real confidence boost. I’m getting there. I’m getting through. Sometimes, that’s the best you can be doing.
And a last bit of running related ‘news’, still linked in part to health. Having been struggling with weight over the last couple of years, I finally got annoyed enough to write to Runner’s World about the tendency for all running related motivational articles to be focused on weight loss from a ‘please help me shed some’ angle. You may even recall my ranting post from October in which I discussed body image in the media from the angle of one who needs to gain some. I wasn’t exactly surprised but pretty chuffed nonetheless, despite being ‘on the rocks’ in my relationship with the sport, to note that my thoughts to this effect had actually been summarised in the February edition. It was only this morning though, as I idly flicked through the March edition whilst reluctantly cross training on the gym bike (yes I am still being good with my strength work!), that I realised I must’ve made a pertinent point… Apparently a third of those who responded to the February letters page did so in order to agree with me. I cycled the next fake kilometre a little bit faster and with a broad grin on my face, feeling more part of some kind of virtual running community than I have done since I discovered UK Run Chat. 31% of those who read that letter agreed with me strongly enough to actually bother writing in to say so. And it took me at least 6 months to be arsed enough to write it! I’m looking forward to that article then, maybe it’ll help me where the GP hasn’t! |
So maybe I’m not just coming through. Maybe I’m doing better than that. Maybe I’m coming back up too. Just as well really, cos I hear tell that you gotta get up to get down!
And speaking of Robert Frost in the context of endurance, it seems appropriate to end on a favourite (last) verse from his poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
And speaking of Robert Frost in the context of endurance, it seems appropriate to end on a favourite (last) verse from his poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”