It would not be a good day if the history of my Google
searches was to ever be released to the public.
I tend to ask Google some interesting questions. The other day I actually asked Google if
running ever got any easier and the responses I got were encouraging. Many of the articles that popped up stated, “Absolutely
it will get easier! Just keep going!” Helpful, right?
Not really. Even
though the “experts” were telling me that running gets easier, I’m inclined to
disagree with them. Sure, I’m not the most dedicated nor consistent runner, but
I believe that I’ve run enough to be able to answer this question;
No, it doesn’t get
any easier. In fact, it gets harder.
Now before you go all, “stop being so negative Jennifer”,
let me explain. The running itself never
changes. It gets harder because you place more responsibility and expectation
on yourself. You increase your mileage
or your speed; you decide to take on bigger hills or interval running; that
previous thought that a half-marathon would never be possible is now actually
something that seems achievable. What’s
easy is giving up. What’s easy is
thinking, “Man, I’m so comfortable in my pajamas and it looks so hot outside,
so I’m just going to stay here.”
I’m a little over a month into my half-marathon training
journey and I’ve found it to be one of the most difficult things I’ve done for
several reasons;
- The schedule – Consistency is the king of training and following a set schedule is imperative. It’s amazing how quickly you lose your ability to run just by missing a couple of your training days. Anyone who has worked in student affairs knows that we don’t have a normal schedule, so trying to maintain a training schedule with my work schedule has been incredibly challenging. And the longer the long-runs get, the more time you have to dedicate to that run on that scheduled day. My social calendar is now starting to revolve around my running schedule in my attempt to try and make sure I get the long run in (and that I made good choices the night before). And thankfully the weather is starting to cool because having to get up at 7:00am on a Saturday to try and get the run in before the temperature heats up just flat out blows. I'm jealous of the morning people who can get up at 5:00am and get their run in first thing. I've tried to be that person. Never gonna happen.
- The diet – When I starting thinking about training I read a lot about how people would complain about gaining weight during training and that was mostly because the increased activity and mileage made people hungrier and they justified eating certain things with the increased mileage. Those that know me know that’s the last thing in the world that I want, so I’ve been trying to be very diligent with my diet and eating things that will both fill me up and fuel me for runs. Definitely a lot harder than you'd think.
- Balancing speed & distance: As I run more often and more consistently, I have found myself being able run faster and longer. However, those don’t go together very well. The faster my pace, the shorter distance I can go. And the longer I go, the slower pace I go. I’m not doing this for a specific finish time, but it can be incredibly disheartening to look down and see that you’re actually decreasing in your pace time, no matter how often you tell yourself that time doesn’t matter, it’s the finishing that counts.
But here’s some good news.
No, it doesn’t get
any easier, but you get stronger.
Physically and mentally you get stronger, but it’s been the
mental strength that keeps me going.
When my legs are physically tired, it’s my mental strength that tells me,
“it’s okay to walk for just a minute, but then you need to get running again”. It’s my mental strength that says, “Yes, it
sucks to go home after a 12-hour day and have to fit a run in, but you have to
do it”. Poor food choices will always be
there, but by flexing my “willpower muscle”, I remind myself of why I need to
make the better choice.
Running is never going to get any easier, but I will
continue to get stronger and that’s what matters in the end.
