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A Dull Training Update: Patience, Young Padawan

A word of advice: don't get out of shape.

Once you are, getting back in shape sucks. And patience is hard.

Coming back from injury, I've been running for three weeks; this current week will be my fourth. My progression has been as such:

Week 1: 17.5 miles on 5 days (4.5 mile longest run)
Week 2: 27 miles on 6 days (7 mile longest run)
Week 3: 37 miles on 6 days (8 mile longest run)
Week 4: GOAL 45-50 miles on 6 days with a 10-mile longest run

Right now I'm just running to return to a semblance of fitness. It's base training for base training. No special workouts, and the only think I'm doing faster than easy runs are the occasional set of four strides at about marathon effort.

It's tough. Progress is slow. My Achilles feels great some days and achy other days, so I have to really pay attention to it. I feel aerobically fit to run more and faster, but neuromuscularly my legs haven't caught up. I find myself almost holding back on most runs, because my legs can't keep up with my heart.

And that gets to the lesson of this post: patience.

Patience may be the most important quality in developing as a long distance runner, yet it is also the hardest to master. We want to be good, right now. We're motivated. We feel great. Got a race coming up. Harder, better, faster, [longer]. Hard work or hardly working, amiright?

Unfortunately, distance running doesn't work like that. It rewards consistency, mindfulness, relaxation; slow, steady progress.

I want to be running 75+ miles next week. I want to be at 100+ by September. Aggressive, for sure. There are a few races this fall I have lightly penciled in, most important of which is the Thanksgiving Day Race. I would like to be in PR shape for that one.

I might not get there. Those more immediate mileage goals? I definitely won't hit those. The THX goal? The more patiently I train, the less likely I am to hit it. It's a strange balancing act.

I've been running competitively for 15 years and I still struggle with patience. Perhaps it's time to listen to the feedback my body is giving me. Perhaps it's time to practice what I preach.

But being patient is certainly a humbling experience.
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