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Thursday, May 23, 2013

Setting Lofty Goals

The thing about setting these lofty goals are that the person usually thinks that he/she is capable of doing it.  After doing some research, I've found that in order to qualify for the USATF 24 Hour National Team, I need to run 135 miles within that 24 hours... which kinda seems a little tough... but at the same time... it feels doable.  Of course, I've never done anything crazy like that, and the longest run I've ever done was last year's 12 hour run, where I did 62 miles... and here I am right now, thinking about doubling the time and more than doubling the distance... how crazy is that?

Having a lofty goal isn't a bad thing... when you're looking at taking steps towards getting there.  However, should you have a lofty goal that is immediate... now THAT would be a bad thing.  Setting lofty goals should help you build yourself up, and not break yourself down ASAP.  It's one thing to look far off in the distance and seeing yourself go towards there... but it's another thing to make impossible goals for your race next week (although I am tempted).

The thing about lofty goals are they push you.  And when pushed, you have to adapt and improve yourself, and step by step, you get to where you need to be.  My lofty goal is to become one of America's top ultra distance runner.  Right now, I'm nowhere near that, but I believe that over time, as I train and work hard, I'll take small steps towards my goal and finally manage to be one of the elite runners of America.

I always liked a quote a friend once told me:

Aim for the stars and you might hit the moon.

I plan on hitting the stars.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

When You're Tired

I ran twice today, running both in the morning and at night, and of course, the hardest run was my second run.  It was hard because I was already tired from the morning run as well as from standing at work for 7 hours, and it really was tempting to just not run.  However, after telling people that I was going to go for a run... and being a man of my word, I went and did my (stupid ol') run.  I wasn't exactly enthusiastic as I started the run, but as I kept going, I felt pretty good about getting up and going forward.

After finishing the run, I was glad it was over.  It was a lot tougher but I managed to finish it, and the satisfaction was that much more to me because I was weak and tired, but kept on going.  Whenever you're weak and tired... and you have a goal to accomplish, accomplish it, and you'll feel so much better and the satisfaction is exponentially better than when you accomplish something when you're not  tired and weak.

It takes a lot of willpower to get through... especially when you're tired.  Push through and you'll be satisfied.  Give up and you'll have regret.

Personally, I like the first choice...

(altogether, I ran 11.43 miles... 3 days in a row where I ran more than 10 miles)

Friday, May 10, 2013

2nd Day of Training

It's always harder to run on the second day because you're still a little sore from the first day.  Today was a little hard for me to go on and do a run because of that.  However, I was able to push on and finish 10.41 miles.  Since school is over, I made it a goal to run double digits every day.  It was hard... but not impossible.

The important thing about continuing your training on the second day is to persevere.  It takes a little to run one day, but to run on the second day takes more out of you.  On the second day, your mind is a little weaker, and you don't want to work as hard.  You've done the hard work on the first day, and on the second day, you want to take it easy.  In order to get through that, you need a strong will.  It takes a little bit to start, but a lot to keep going. 

One way to get through it is to let other people know about what you're doing, the more you let others know what you're getting yourself into, the more you'll actually be 'forced' to do it.  Putting proper pressure on yourself will in turn help you to continue to push forward.  When you can't go forward with what you aim to do, work to get something to give you that final push.

Find the push and you'll be able to continue forward on your journey.  Sometimes, the push is within you, and other times, it'll be something outside.  Once you figure that out, the second day won't be so bad.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Returning to Running

Over the last few weeks, I've spent almost no time running, and a lot more time studying.  Now that exams are over, I'm getting back to running.  The first thing I did today was go on an easy run with a friend.  Together, we ran about 1.5 miles.  Afterwards, I went on my own little run, running around 4.5 miles.  After having a good break, I took a nap and then went out and ran 6 miles with the running club in Knoxville.  Altogether, I ran 12.27 miles, and it was fun.  My muscles are pretty tired, but I'm excited for what tomorrow has in store for me.

When you're getting back into something, you can't jump in and go hard core because when you do that, you actually can end up hurting yourself or tiring yourself out.  In my doing this amount of running, I probably pushed a little too hard... but I'll find out tomorrow whether or not it was too hard.  The thing about this running thing is that my break wasn't too much of a break.  Sometimes, people take small breaks and are afraid of jumping in because they recognize that they've been out for a bit... but in reality, it's their knowledge that prevents them from excelling as much as they could.  Others will see this break as nothing and jump right into what they were doing before... and end up hurting themselves.  Finding the happy middle is where we all ought to be when getting back into things.

I believe I know myself pretty well and understand what the break did to me.  The important thing for me is to not push myself because I fall into the 'push myself' category.  Knowing myself is good, but playing as close as I can to my limit... can be a little dangerous.  When returning to running, I ought not to play so dangerously... but I do because THAT is how much I want to get back to what I was doing and do that as fast as I possibly could.

Let's see what tomorrow brings and how dangerous I could play this game.