In it for the training
I love training plans. Yes, I do.
My learning curve in running is still very steep. Besides common endurance training knowledge and finding out more and more about the cultural, social and political impact of this wonderful sport, I am mostly discovering what it actually means to me personally. Over the past 7 years I’ve been continuously writing about my running experiences, trying to be very introspective about it, simply because running came to my life so unexpectedly.
One of the latest revelations is that I truly love training plans. Yes I do. I know that for a lot of people structured training solely is a means to an end. Something you unfortunately have to do to become a better runner. An annoying duty that is to be mastered in order to peak and shine on race day. There’s also quite a number of runners who claim to not train at all, at least not in a structured way, such as with a fixed schedule. They simply hate it that much. Of course there’s also people who simply cannot afford it (in terms of time), because other things in their life are much more important.
And then there is people like me. The training nerds. The schedule enthusiasts. The pedants of running. When I have a training plan I just feel disentangled. It gives me a feeling of safety and calm. It literally structures my life. A state I am trying to acquire since I was a teenager. It’s a means of letting go and just doing something for the sake of doing it. Even a bit of the much quoted living in the present moment. „Why do you go out for 35k run? It’s raining.“ - „Because it’s on the plan“. And most of these runs that normally would have been skipped, turn out to be great.
The other big advantage of training after a fixed schedule is, that you can have a great number of ‚micro successes‘. Each session, especially if it’s a tough one, has the potential to leave you with elation and great contentment. On the other hand, failed workouts can easily be left behind without much mental or physical damage. The balance can be really gratifying, as long your training plan is not overstraining, or demanding too little from you.
A training routine is also an endless pool of wisdom. Like one big field experiment. Every single training session is affected by other aspects of life and running. What did I eat? And when? How many hours of sleep did I get? How stressful was my day? Is there anything that concerns me? Which shoes did I pick? What’s on my headphones? Did I use the foam roller the night before or not? How’s the weather? Does meditation calm my mind or make me sleepy? Is there a difference between running alone or with someone else? The list continues forever. While on race day all of this is a one-shot, you can easily go wild on trial and error in training. A method that has been my true friend forever.
At the end of the day I am very aware of the fact that training only gets you so far. Races are won and ambitious goals are reached with your heart, something that can hardly be trained or prepared, at least not with pace and milage. However the year has +/- 300 training days and only a handful of race days. A good reason to give your training some love (and take some), if you ask me.