Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Simplicity

Some days I realize that getting fitter is not really all that complicated.  To quote Nike, you "just do it."

Does that make it easy?  No.

Does that me any more motivated?  Not really.

What it does is point a clear way.  I can think up all the complicated interval workouts on the track that I want.  I can plan ahead for the next nine months until the Boston marathon next year (and I do have a spread sheet that provides a vague plan for me for that whole time).  I can think about how to cross train--after all I have borrowed a book called run less, run faster which emphasizes quality over quantity of workouts and stresses cross training.  I can come up with split times for every mile when I race.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't require that much logic.  And it is not so much a matter of faith (going back to Fr. Sam's comment at church that our beliefs go beyond logic).

Instead it is a matter of one thing--determination.  I may still need to run smart.  But smart doesn't require all that much fancy planning.  Determined is--go out and keep going. Smart is--don't start too hard so I have something at the end but if I have too much then that's not so good either.  Those two together are mostly intuitive.  Really just simplicity.

So my thought for today after a refreshing 45 minutes on an exercise bike going 12.88 miles where I just pushed and pushed is to "Run Determined--Run Smart".  (A friend recently told me that I run with my head as well as my heart.  That comment may be a little more poetic than mine but it all comes down to the same thing.)  With that, we'll see how I do in my 5K and 20 mile races in the next two weeks.

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