LYNX club member Monica B. conducted an interesting personal experiment a few weeks ago. You can read about it below. Thanks for contributing this blog post Monica! 

Backstory

“Crossing the finish line of your first race is exhilarating and fills you with an immense sense of pride and accomplishment. It is a feeling that is truly addicting.

After that first race, if you’re Type A like me, you immediately start thinking about the next race and how you can do better. You fall deep into the wormhole of optimal training and performance and the pressure to improve – to do better, to be better – begins to build. If you suffer an injury (like falling on the ice or breaking your toe by stubbing it – yup both me) the pressure amplifies under the looming race day that seems to suddenly approach at hyper speed. This stress on top of everything else we deal with in life can only increase inflammation and contribute to delayed healing and recovery.

The love of the sport can easily get lost under the weight of what feels like the world’s (but is really just your own) expectation of quality performance. This becomes heightened when the race is one you had to qualify for and you feel as though all your hard work to make the cut is wasted and you are crushed at the thought of missing out on the honour and opportunity to be able to compete.

Not getting into two of the world majors this year despite having a qualifying time (cause I guess everyone else just keeps getting faster!) honestly felt like a blessing. It freed me from the months of pre-race pressure and allowed me to take the time to allow my body to heal from lingering injuries and move when and how it wanted to move. I was reminded of the joy that comes from the ability to push hard or take it easy on your own timeline, allowing to factor in for daily stress and demanding schedules, instead of the cookie cutter training plans many of us try to stringently follow.

Calgary Marathon Consideration

Fast forward to two weeks before the Calgary Marathon, now free of injury and fully enjoying the freedom that comes from running. Out on a longer run, my body wanted to keep running and I completed 24km. Not nearly the length of your typical final long run before you taper, but the intrinsic pull to sign up last minute for the marathon started to build. As I waited to see how my body recovered from that long run, the desire only grew.

Three days before the marathon at swimming class, I casually brought up the possibility of me signing up last minute to Coach Mary (you know, just to get some feelers on how insane I might be). I could see the wheels turning in her head as she contemplated this race experiment (as she would call it). Her advice to ditch the ego and run purely based on feel, no expectation, just listening to my body was the final push I needed. I signed up right after leaving the pool. Thanks Coach Mary!

Bypassing all the pre-race stress and jitters, I was there just to run with the energy of the marathon community around me. It was a beautiful sunny day and I ran purely based on feel – that cruise control setting that develops with long distance running.

Marathon Day

My previous marathon experience had me on autopilot for when to take my gels and water and my legs had a mind of their own refusing to quit. This allowed me to just enjoy the run. No pressure, no expectation, just me out for a run around the city fuelled by my immense gratitude for the ability to move, my love for running and pushing through challenges, and the energy of the people around me all working toward the same goal of crossing that finish line.

It is easy to fall into the performance trap and although I firmly believe we should always strive to grow and push the limits of our potential, sometimes listening to your body and just going for a run because you love it leads to your PB (and apparently a spot on the top 10 female leaderboard).

Thanks Coach Mary!”

Coach note: You are pretty amazing Monica and it was fantastic to hear the outcome of this experiment! You really summed it up well in your last paragraph – training for the love of the sport can take us far. Thanks again for sharing your story!