Congrats dmd. You own your success, you earned it the hard way - by working your plan consistently. Doesn’t matter what someone else claims they did.
Congrats to all racers. Lot of respect for all that competed today.
I had my best day in terms of not losing my sh**. What really helped was the book I’m reading. “How Bad do you want it. Mastering the psychology of Mind Over Muscle.” In one chapter it discusses that pressure-induced self-consciousness sabotages performance and is unique to endurance sports. As an athlete, you’re much better off directing your attention externally, to the task at hand, which distracts you to some degree from your suffering, allowing you to push a little harder.
Fantasizing about desired outcomes typically results into putting less effort into pursuing goals and less likely you are to achieving them-from racing, losing weight and test taking. The focus should be on DOING- not dreaming.
An athlete needs to get to the “flow” state. Flow state is described as one in which you seem to become the thing you are doing. The part of the mind that normally watches the part that is focused on the task at hand vanishes, leaving the athlete’s consciousness directed externally in a way that feels right and yields exceptional performance. Counterintuitive though it might be, caring a little less about the result of a race produces better results. An athlete that believes in herself whether she succeeds or fails is able to put the goal out of mind and race in the moment, and to race in the moment-in flow-is to race better.
Ohio- that’s what I don’t understand about my complete mental illness surrounding racing. Even when I don’t care at all about the result (like even when I was pacing my daughter in her first marathon, which was going to be my slowest one ever), I freak out!
Bunsen- my Eileen Fisher sandals came and I am wearing them tonight. I think they may be the only shoes I take on my 4 day business trip this week (except for running shoes, of course).
@ohiopublic : I find myself jealous that you’ve found opportunities to run competitive track distances. How did you find those races? I’d love to work on training for the mile! And congrats on your great times!
I read “how bad do you want it?” at the recommendation of my dog agility coach about six months ago. It made me think about what I really wanted from dog agility and from running–I ended up taking the running MORE seriously and the dog stuff less seriously.
Dmd- There is a senior Olympics program that Ohiopublic competes in. There are regional, state and national meets. I’ve completed in the road races before. In addition, many communities have all-comers track meets which are great for re-entry into track or even just for speedwork. They are low key and everyone is welcome one.
Check your local running club’s website.
Dmd - I was a decent 800/1600 in HS/first part of college. I guess you always go back to what you were good at. I was a lazy runner in my youth. Just relied on speed. Part of why I do it now is that I’m making up for what I should have done. Plus to be honest I like the bright shiny objects they give out.
Based on your posts, I have been reading up on the dog agility stuff. My current dog is fast, but is unwilling to take directions and jump into any body of water. (He’s part lab.) He could have been a contender. Hopefully we’ll work our issues out in counseling sessions. Maybe my next dog!
MOWC - you ought to take a look at the book. The chapter on the female triathlete that overcame her self-doubt could have been written about me.
MOfWC, I hope you like the shoes! They were the only pair I wore for 7 days during our crazy trip of Northern and Southeastern Europe, and my injured foot liked them. I took a pair of Clarks slip on shoes to wear with socks on the plane, but other than that, my Eileen Fisher sandals was what I wore on Chisinau wine tours and cobblestones of Stockholm. Normally, I would never risk taking a new pair of shoes on a long trip, but I thought these would work, and they performed better than expected!
Done! I ran steadily for this mile in this 93 degree heat and didn’t walk a single step, which was really my goal. And I had a niiiice sprint at the end 
This was held at my kids’ high school so at the track. To my shock and horror, tthere were only about 12 runners in each heat so we were very “visible” - I’m used to 5ks with hundreds of people! I used my headphones so I didn’t realize this, but because each heat was so small, the announcer was cheering us on by name - “and here’s PG in lane 5, come on, you can do it!” I think I would have died if I had known that!
It did raise my heart rate quite a bit though. Per Fitbit, avg heart rate 163 and it reached a peak of 189 at the very end when I sprinted. I didn’t feel lightheaded or anything, just out of breath.
It was a nice event - this young man had been a runner both in high school and at college (Miami of Ohio) prior to his illness.
Great job, PG! 93 degrees - I wouldn’t have made it!
I sat in my air conditioned car til 10 min before my start!
Congrats, Pizzagirl! Wow, 93 degrees… Talk about running on a frying pan. Kudos for being there and running the whole thing!
Wow, congrats Pizzagirl! That’s quite an accomplishment in that heat.
Ha, not with my times :-). But the not-walking was my real goal. I felt strong throughout.
Way to RUN, PG!
Congrats to all the runners who ran races this weekend!
I had a total relapse on Thursday. After the 7-day hike in Peru, and a very busy three days in NYC (where I walked a lot – over 30,000 steps one day), I didn’t feel like leaving my bed on Thursday. I stayed in PJs for most of the day – I finally took a short walk at 7pm.
And let’s not even discuss how I’ve been eating. My refrigerator broke, spouse was on a business trip, so I didn’t go food shopping for a week. I ate whatever was in the house – I had popcorn for dinner one night.
We have a new fridge, we bought lots of great veggies and fruits today, so hopefully I’ll get back on track. Went for a nice run this afternoon, and will do yoga in the morning.
I spent a lot of time today refilling the fridge with veggies and fruit after our weeklong absence. Made an appreciation dinner for our house sitters tonight. It was not hard to decide what food to make - Moldovan cuisine won over Swedish cuisine easily. I wanted lots of veggies, so I made sarmale, stuffed eggplant, and baked a cheese placinta. Yummm!
Bunsen, google is my friend whenever you cook something! Just letting you know, I would be available for housesitting. Sounds delicious!
Warm and humid here today - the dogs are wishing they could take their fur coats off, but instead are lying on top of the a/c vents. Too bad, humans! Just a walk this morning with my upper body workouts - stretch class this afternoon. I’m looking forward to that as my quads are killing me after barre yesterday. It was a fun class as it was held at a local brewery in their tasting room - we used the bar for the barre and had a beer and some social time afterwards. It was a lot of fun but I’m feeling it today. More so than the “run”.
Off to do a long ride with my Study Girls training partners. Supposed to be a relaxed ride but everyone’s wearing full team kits and riding their road race bikes. I think I’m in trouble!
Have a good ride, Michael.
This was the toughest weather morning so far this season. 75 and humid (and sunny) when I started. 4 miles done, with a few little rest breaks to “enjoy the scenery”. Got my 36 mile week in.
Congrats to all the racers this weekend!
I completely pooped out during my short run yesterday. About 2 miles in I just couldn’t run anymore & just walked the remainder. I felt shaky & jello-legged. I don’t remember having an experience like that before - maybe I’m still a bit tired from last weekend’s half.
Anyway, finished the day with my 2 D’s at the county fair. I feel like I did about as good as can be expected, foodwise, at a county fair with a soft pretzel & some roasted corn. D2 has an enormous polish sausage with grilled peppers & onions (I might have begged for a bite or two - oh was it good!) & both girls had ice cream treats. We watched turkey races & a female impersonators show (excellent Cher, mediocre Madonna). All in all, a fun day!