Marathon Madness
Today, as we drove down through a few flickering snowflakes to do my final last longish tempo run (10 miles), I was thinking to myself how fast the last couple of months have gone by. I can’t believe that I am back, race-fit, and ready to go, when it seems like the Olympic Trials were just a few weeks ago. I guess that is the sign of a proper marathon build-up. Rather than counting down how many training efforts remain I wish there were more, and rather than feeling like I have been training hard for a super-long time I feel like I am just hitting the peak of my fitness and could stand to train even longer.
This time last year I was definitely ready to get to the starting line. I remember, being a month out from the race and feeling pretty worn out and ready to take it easy for the last couple of weeks before the start. This year, with two weeks to go, I remain hungry.
I think one of the reasons the last five months have gone by so fast is because we have been training in so many different places. My buildup began in Flagstaff doing intervals at the paces I am now running for tempo runs. Next, I came to Mammoth to begin the uphill runs that I am now banking on to give me the strength that my legs will need when things get hard.
Big Bear was the next stop and where my fitness began to really take hold. Every weekend was a big training effort with long tempo runs and quality long runs. Now, back in Mammoth, is where my fitness has really begun to show and even surprise me. I have never run tempo runs, long runs, marathon simulations, or intervals as fast as I have the past week and a half. I feel very blessed to have responded so well to the training that coach has prescribed, to have the support that I have received from my wife, and to be in the position I find myself in now: as fit as I have ever been in my life.
Certainly, I have been diligent in my training, but as a professional runner, I realize that everything has to click just right to really maximize my potential and some of those things are out of my control, to some extent. I find, that when things are really clicking it is a very humbling experience because I feel that God has put something in me that I could not have put in myself, try as I may. Just today I was thinking about the famous quote from Chariots of Fire, “you can’t put in what God has left out.” As weird as it may seem, I find a certain amount of solace in these words. It keeps me from trying to force myself into a level of fitness that I am not at, and allows me to focus on developing my talent to its very fullest by letting it come out, not by trying harder. I have found that I improve much more, especially over the long run, when I let the training come out and am not out there trying to really force something special to happen.
It’s interesting that I maximize my potential when I just let it come rather than by trying harder. The great thing about letting my fitness come is that it makes training very enjoyable and puts me at peace with where I am at for that point in time, while realizing that my fitness will continue to increase. This mindset allows me to always be successful and really enjoy both the process and the outcome.
I believe that my life, as an athlete, is much more fulfilling and enjoyable when I find ways to be successful, independent of outcomes. There is no reason for me to be disappointed with my race in London if I can honestly walk away from the finish knowing that I did everything in my power to maximize my potential. It would be especially sweet to really feel that, for this time period in my life, I also got the race that reflected my maximum potential, but even if I can just say that I let all my fitness out on the day, in my buildup, and that my heart was right, then I can feel every bit as successful as anyone in the race. I find that I must learn to delight in my own performance even if it is not as special as what a fellow competitor might have achieved, if I am truly going to be able to do my very best.
One of my other favorite movie quotes comes from Facing Giants when the football coach