I love a good running analogy and this newsletter is pretty much just one big running analogy! I get so much from my running both physically and mentally. The experience of pushing through workouts I find really tough while painful and not fun at the time do actually serve me well. Yes, I get fitter from it but I can also take away from it that I can do hard things and can take that confidence into other areas of my life.
In July, I put my training to the test and ran a marathon with the intent of trying to beat my previous personal best I set almost seven years ago. It wasn’t the perfect lead-up with Melbourne in lockdown for a couple of weeks and then the Tuesday before I was due to run the Gold Coast Marathon, Gold Coast went into lockdown and the event was canceled.
I was lucky enough to find a local marathon a week later that I could run. The course was certainly not the flat, fast Gold Coast track I had been imagining throughout my training. It was laps of Princes Park with a 1km leg out and back to make it a 5km loop in total. The 1km out and back was over rolling hills and I would have to do this 8 times. I was a little nervous about this section and asked my coach for advice on how to approach it. His advice was simple and spot-on:
Don’t fight the course, work with the course.
It is tempting to try and keep pace when running up hills but doing so uses up a lot of energy. Doing this 8 times could have seriously derailed my race – I would have been fighting the course. I took my coach’s advice and aimed for consistent effort over the uphills and pushed it on the downhills – I worked with the course. And this approach was certainly one of the elements that helped me set a new PB!
I took this approach with other things in July too. We went back into lockdown again and I could have fought against the changes this requires me to make but I decided to simply work with it. I didn’t try to keep to my standard morning routine as it would have caused frustration (for me!) and used up plenty of mental energy. Instead, I worked with the circumstances I had and went with the flow of our lockdown days, and moved some of my activities around to ensure this worked with the kids home.
I love plans and routines but they are always just a guide as to how I want things to go. As circumstances change, they need to change too. If your circumstances are changing at the moment and they are outside your control, try working with what you have, not fighting it and wanting it to be different than what it is. It will save you plenty of energy and probably your sanity too!
Have a great rest of the week!
Nic
PS. This was the introduction to my monthly review post which you can find on the blog here and see how I am progressing towards my goal for this year.
Lockdown discounts
A reminder that if you are in lockdown in QLD and NSW I have created a code for you to receive 10% of Adapt Drinks. The codes are valid until the end of the relevant lockdowns and if they are extended then I will extend the discounts too. Head to Adapt Drinks to place your order and use the codes:⠀
QLD - qld0⠀
NSW - nsw10
Take care x
Fabulous Father’s Day book bundle giveaway
Timed perfectly for Father’s Day, the team at Penguin has put together another fab giveaway bundle that includes 10 dad-themed books. Head to the blog here to enter.
Hello Nicole, this is a good analogy and works well for a walker like me too. I am loving walking during this very odd period when life is weird, surreal. I go slower on the uphill bits, I know they are good for me and I know I find them harder so I make them manageable by going slower.
When I get overwhelmed by kids, family, work, life... I know that by doing things more slowly, and doing one thing at a time, I can manage. In a way I am having a whole year of slower this yar, in a macro sense.
Anyway, thanks for this, running is not my jam, but am loving weight classes at the gym and walking and in spring and summer will swim again. And in lots of ways these words about the course apply just as much to swimming too. Best wishes,