Mind Games

This Sat. we picked up a few new folks and a few others either didn't make it or shifted to other groups, which is normal for these early sessions.  Everyone is still trying to find the right pace to get started with.  We still had 45 runners, and we went for a full 4 miles, which we did in 62 min. giving us just a tick over our 15min/mile pace goal.  This is right where we want to be.

What was great was that in just a week, people have already seen the benefits of what repetition, the act of running two weeks in a row, has helped in getting their body in better shape for running.  In other words, running more often, allows you to be able to run better. Practice makes perfect.  It's not just the physical act, one would imagine that we all should be able to run, just like we all know how to walk, one foot in front of the other, but it's a bit more complex than that.

I believe that a lot of us find that we sit more than we stand, walk or run, our life is much more sedentary than say our grandparents.  Not to say we all come from farming stock, but, other than a few professions, we do find ourselves sitting more than not.  This also suggests that we don't have to use our heart muscle or develop our lung capacity to get through the normal day.  So the simple act of running and walking for an hour, is quite an accomplishment.  In fact, it can be down right "unnatural".  For those who have done this before, you know what's in store, but you also know it's different each time.

The other idea here is the mental part.  Okay, so that's something we all probably do more often than not, and that is the mind over matter thing that we do.  We do know how we have to struggle mentally to get past certain obstacles in our daily work and life.  We have to mentally not freak, get totally pissed, or deal with the stress of just surviving.  We do that all the time whether we're sitting still, or lying in bed, trying to get to sleep.

So that mental drive, that sense of attitude of keeping it all together, which already we know a lot about, will also be needed in our long distance endurance training.  It's just that now we have to combine the two, the mental mind games, and the physical act of running, walking and breathing.  This juggling act is what we call a marathon.

So for these next few weeks, months, we are all going to take this unnatural journey and see how far we can take it, a step at a time, a mile at a time.

I'm very much looking forward to it.  

Don't forget to do your weekday runs, it's very important to be able to keep up with the Sat. runs.

Walt

Pat Connelly

Rod Dixon

This week Rod Dixon, our coach for the Roadrunners got back in town and was able to introduce himself to the new runners.  In the past, our coach was Pat Connelly, who basically created Roadrunners into what it is today, and a few years ago, mainly due to the sale of the Marathon, there was a change in overall ownership, and this happened again more recently.  With the change came a change in coaches, and Rod is our coach now. The program has always been changing and improving over the years, just like the marathon course keeps changing.  For those who don't feel they know who Rod is, here is a link to a pretty great video of Rod running in the 1983 New York Marathon.  There are other videos about running tips from Rod.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llfcZUyTJGA&feature=relmfu