Consistency

Consistency is key.  All the experts in any field, from business to running tell us consistency beats the highs and lows.  Stay the course, they say.  Keep moving in the right direction and you will reach your goals.  Slow and steady wins the race, says the turtle as he beats the hare.

Well, my running has not always resembled this motto.  I go out to fast.  I add mileage to prepare for a race without taking time to slow down and enjoy the ride.  Too much, too soon.  The result?  Usually an injury or a loss of passion.

Consistency . . . running with regularity

So, since hiring a running coach, the one thing I've noticed is consistency. Over the last several weeks, we have run essential the same plan with a few wrinkles added it and some muscle building exercises to add strength and injury resistance.  Every week, as I looked at my plan, I expected more miles or something else to change.  Every week, I was surprised to find a similar plan from the week before.

Now, I don't want to insinuate that the weeks were easy.  They did extend my capabilities.  Just not at a pace or style I was accustomed.  After a while, I began to wonder coach just copied from week to week to save time.  Now, after a little perspective, I realize he is doing things the right way.  The way we should, building consistency and miles slowly.  Developing a strong base to prepare for more miles and increase speed.  Essentially doing all of the things I haven't done up till now, and paid the price for my mistakes.

So, instead of viewing this as a short journey and I need to view this as a long trot.  And celebrate the consistency!

Till we run again . . .

What Can I Say . . .

If nothing else, I am consistant, writing one blog post a month.  Truth is I get busy and forget to post and then feel guilty I haven't posted, until I finally get the motivation to post.   So now I've share insight into my posting thought process, what's been going all the last month?

Warm Weather please! Can't wait until this is reality again.

After the marathon, I took some time off to recover and reclaim so time.  Other runners know the commitment of time and energy training for a marathon.  Not just the time running, but the time preparing and recovering from the run.  I also needed the break mentally, as the grind of the training started to exceed the pleasure of the activity during the weeks before the race.  After the recovery, time came to start training again with a new tweak.

A coach.  I decided in early January that I wanted to hire a coach to give me some personal guidance and another voice besides the one in my head.  After interviewing a number of great coaches, I hired a fella in Georgia who I believe can help me stay healthy, get stronger, and achieve my goals.  After filling out background information and setting up all of the administrative stuff we were off an running at the beginning of February.

So far, so good! The weather in Omaha has posed some difficulties with cold and snow during, after, and around training runs.  The plan laid out by coach has already asked me to do some new things, like drills in the middle of the run and strength exercises afterwards.  I am looking forward to what is next!

Until we meet again, happy running my friends . . .