It takes more guts to go slow than to go fast...
I paraphrase one of the elite group of ultrarunners talking to the author of a book I've devoured in a train ride and a coffee! Born to Run, by Chris McDougall, seriously it covers the evolutionary basis of running, one man's struggle to run without getting injured and at its core was a love of running shared by these elites and a tribe of indigenous Mexicans.... Rarely do I choke up reading a book, let alone a sports one and this one did that to me...
However, the quote is a truism... If you're one of those lucky people who can pick up a pair of trainers, do no training and on your first go Half marathon and knock off in under 2 hours then brilliant, you are something I will never be a natural athlete.
Whether that not being a "natural athlete" is because of my heart condition or my diabetes I will never know and quite frankly don't intend to worry to much about it.
What I will worry about is anyone who like me has to work hard to get around a run, be it; 5k 10k a half, a full marathon or something else...
At the core of working hard is absolute honesty, if you run 5k in 40 minutes than what's you've done. Rounding it down to 37 because of the hill in the middle doesn't work... You need to know what you've done and try and work out why, and decide what you want to improve.
And you might be happy with what you do and not want to improve...
If you do, then comes the hard work, the runs, the cross training, the runs to a pace, the short sharp runs alternated with recovery runs, the hill runs and so on...
We may not be elites but we learn from them, the hydration strategies; the fuelling strategies, the tapering, the base loading... We devour magazines on new ways of training, reading about the latest shoes and how to shave grammes off our kit (when it would be a lot cheaper to shave some off our bellies!).
And on we run, the back of the pack heroes, often for our charities always for the thrill, the challenge and just because we might just be able to finish!
So remember, always remember, most people will never ever do a half marathon, a marathon, a triathlon or anything else....
YOU ARE AMAZING!!!
TTFN
Paul
However, the quote is a truism... If you're one of those lucky people who can pick up a pair of trainers, do no training and on your first go Half marathon and knock off in under 2 hours then brilliant, you are something I will never be a natural athlete.
Whether that not being a "natural athlete" is because of my heart condition or my diabetes I will never know and quite frankly don't intend to worry to much about it.
What I will worry about is anyone who like me has to work hard to get around a run, be it; 5k 10k a half, a full marathon or something else...
At the core of working hard is absolute honesty, if you run 5k in 40 minutes than what's you've done. Rounding it down to 37 because of the hill in the middle doesn't work... You need to know what you've done and try and work out why, and decide what you want to improve.
And you might be happy with what you do and not want to improve...
If you do, then comes the hard work, the runs, the cross training, the runs to a pace, the short sharp runs alternated with recovery runs, the hill runs and so on...
We may not be elites but we learn from them, the hydration strategies; the fuelling strategies, the tapering, the base loading... We devour magazines on new ways of training, reading about the latest shoes and how to shave grammes off our kit (when it would be a lot cheaper to shave some off our bellies!).
And on we run, the back of the pack heroes, often for our charities always for the thrill, the challenge and just because we might just be able to finish!
So remember, always remember, most people will never ever do a half marathon, a marathon, a triathlon or anything else....
YOU ARE AMAZING!!!
TTFN
Paul
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