It’s settled!
Give me four weeks. I will do my best to nail this accent down. It’ll sound awful at the beginning, and it might sound awful by the end, but perhaps it’ll be a lesser form of awful.
Blaaaaah.
Monthly Archive: May 2010
Never stopped coaching
A running friend of mine pointed this out, and I never really reflected on it until now. She said that ever since I started coaching various running clinics, it’s as if I never really stopped. See, whenever I’m out there running with people from RR, I’m still out there doling out advice and keeping an eye on the people around me. It’s not uncommon for me to remind people to watch their breathing, or to slow down or speed up as necessary. It seems like I’m not really able to turn that coaching switch off. Really, I should. This marathon clinic is the first time in a long time that I’m not coaching or group-leading. I should be a little more selfish, right? Well, I suppose besides my own success I can’t help but feel like I want to help other people achieve their own success as well. Definitely not a bad thing. I need to just be mindful though not to get too occupied with other people such that I lose sight of my own goals. I have to do it right.
Perception and reality
I was visiting a friend last night, and in the process of downing two bottles of red wine and watching the movie Lesbian Vampire Killers (I shit you not) we started reflecting on what life was like back in high school. We’ve had this conversation so many times before, and yet, each time we do it seems like I somehow manage to find more and more insight into how I perceive those years. It’s become abundantly clear that my perception of myself from back then is a lot different from reality. My friend keeps reminding me that when I look back on those years I really have to look at it more objectively. I know it’s a totally human thing to do, but any analysis I do on that time is far too tainted by my emotions and memories of various hurts.
I really need to work on separating myself and figuring out what my motives for what I was doing, or what I was feeling were back then. For that matter, from a distance I should be looking at what motives other people had to treat me positively or negatively. There really does seem to be a difference in how I remember things and how they probably really were. I wonder why that’s the case. Perhaps I’m trying to mentally rewrite history just to explain why I am who I am. No clue…
Breaking through the plateau
OK, so maybe I touched on this in an earlier post, but another reason I’m pretty excited to get back onto a regular training schedule is that I want to get back to a point where I’m losing weight slowly but regularly. Ever since I finished coaching my half-marathon clinic back at the start of March my progress has basically come to a halt. I’ve been riding a plateau since then, and it’s driving me nuts. Yeah, I know that I need down periods, but I’ve been on one long enough. It’s time to kick it up a notch again, eh? Yeah, it’s common sense, but having diet and exercise together are the key, right? Neither are as effective as they would be with the counterpart.
Something that’s interesting to me is that you’ll hear a lot of running experts state that people who use marathon training to lose weight are in for disappointment. I can see why that might be valid. There are a lot of people who take up training then use that as an excuse to start eating whatever they want. Add that to the fact that marathon training tends to increase appetite, and the end result for many is that they actually put on some weight. In my case, I’m at least very conscious about falling into that trap; I’ve done it before while training for smaller distances. I used to use the whole “I’m adding muscle” excuse, but that’s baloney because you can only build muscle if you eat more calories anyway. No matter how I cut it, I was overeating. This last training cycle was the one where everything fell into place. I’m now ready to rock the system once again. I’m only going to get stronger and leaner. On this, I swear.
The journey starts here
Tonight marked the first night of my marathon training. On some level I was expecting to be intimidated, but as soon as I got there I saw a lot of familiar faces. Sure, there were a lot of regulars who have a lot of experience with marathon training, but there were also a lot of people that I’ve trained with that are also going through the process for the first time. I knew that it would be a good diverse group. I almost thought that I’d be running alone for so much of the next 18 weeks, but it looks like we’ll have a solid pod going. As much as the front-pack people seem to be used to it all, they all seem friendly, approachable, and open to answering questions.
I’m sure it will all work out. Heck, it’s not like freaking out about the distances that I’ll have to cover. At least, I’m not freaking out just yet. I’ll be able to judge more properly in a little while. I just need to remember to take it easy and pay attention to my body. If any part of me starts acting up, I need to address the issue quickly. With the amount of training needed, I can’t afford to take a relaxed approach to making sure everything is in working order. If I ignore a small pain, I know that it can degenerate into something much worse. I need to set a good example, right?
It’s complicated
Ultimately, the end result comes down to it being a control issue. I want everything to work out, but there seems to be some deal-breakers involved. I didn’t anticipate that the problems would be that important, but apparently they are. One small step over the line means that there will just be many more to come. And if I’m already this irritated…I anticipate things will only get worse. As my friend says “[I] like nice things, and [I'd] like them to stay nice.”
I already know the end result (I think), and it’s kind of breaking my heart because ultimately I want us both to be happy.
Uuuuuugh. Why does it have to be like this?
Kung Fu Bear
Ha. Guess who forgot to hit submit.
Well then. Because of that, for now, you get this wood swinging bear. He’s way more skilled than I am, it seems.
Who’s got it figured out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7QSkI6My1g
The new album from The Dead Weather came out a week or two ago. I’m already liking it. Their first album took a while to grow on me, and it wasn’t until I saw this music video on The Wedge that things started clicking. The video for Treat Me Like Your Mother is quite insane, and fun to watch at the same time.
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