Medium Short: Training For The Long Run

Striding forth into the next level

My bib number with a nod from the race gods who included “42”. (If this makes no sense, here’s the door. Yes, I thought about the Sustainable Development Goals and their misguided futility during a marathon.)

Welcome to the latest Medium Short, a weekly accountability practice highlighting what I’m up to along the unmarked trail towards #IndustrialHealing. Reminder: all my Medium articles are linked for free here.

I like running. I also like metaphors. Distance running is a darned good one: ‘possible’ is a state of mind; one step at a time; etc. This past week I lived the metaphor: I ran a marathon, joined a transformational speaker program, and took a deep, spiritual dive into human history.

Marathon #9

I ran the Ottawa Marathon this past Sunday — my ninth ever, my third slowest, and my first since Chicago in 2017. I changed my plan from “racing” to “running” a few weeks back, due to a rib injury and validated by a heatwave which said, “Do not hurry, or else”.

This plan was what my team might have proposed if they existed beyond my fantasy life… #LeSigh

Fantasies of a Female 50-Something: Amateur Athlete Edition

To execute this switch in plans, lacking a SWAT team of trainers and nutritionists on this plane of reality, I changed my “key performance indicator” (and therefore, my default watch readout) from pace to heart rate.

Throughout the race I didn’t know my pace, but I did know my heart rate. I focused on keeping it low to reduce stress on my body. To do this, I had to stay calm and relaxed, reducing stress on my mind.

It worked. I enjoyed the race from start to finish (with only a few brief moments of “Argh!” about the physical challenge and the world I live in). I see places to improve — my mindset and my overall conditioning — to have an even more relaxing race at a quicker pace. That will be my focus this summer.

That’s right: I am training to relax more so I can go faster.

Speaker Summer School