Summer lovin'

After some pretty cross weather the past few weeks, and lots of questions asked about where summer's been hiding, the last few days has greeted us with some pretty amazing Melbourne weather. When Melbourne turns it on, it really turns it on and its almost impossible not to want to get out in your shorts and thongs and grabs some rays while it lasts (which in Melbourne, is usually a few days) :)

This sort of weather also makes training so much fun - being out on the bike when the sun's shining down, or out running when the wind's still and the sun's out and you're running along the water in Port Melbourne - really doesn't get much better down here. The heat means you need to watch fluids a bit more closely, but I really love training in this weather - not sure if its the combination of the sun, the heat, the water looking like a postcard....all of the above!

Tonight I had an interval run set to do and I admit it was on my mind most of the day. My well publicised feelings of inadequacy with running make me anxious when facing a tough session and I knew this would be a tough one. 10 x 2min sets at ~ 4.30min/km pace with 1min recovery, 10min warm up, 10 min warm down. Doesn't sound like much but trust me - after # 5 this was coughing up a lung stuff.  Hard (for me) and going into the session I was mostly worried about whether I could hold that pace with my heart rate where it needed to be for 10 sets. Emphasis on worry and anxiety.

I have been reading a book called the "Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel". It's really fascinating and basically the theory throughout is that the mind is capable of powering your body to do whatever you want it to do. Apparently, the body never reaches peak exhaustion before you quit. It is incapable of doing so because your mind prevents it. The psychology in the book talks about strategies for mentally training your brain to think differently about pain and about your physical senses, to acknowledge them but to - in a way - learn to control the thoughts of "its so hard" or "I want to stop" or "I'm giving this everything" because these thoughts are false. Your body is capable of much more then you think so it is an exercise in learning to overcome the physical feelings with mental power. It's discussed in the context of running but the more I think about the principles they equally apply to any stressful or troubling experiences in life.

With this fresh of mind, I decided to adopt some of these concepts for tonight's run - mostly as a backup because I was nervous about hitting the numbers and needed something to fall back on :)

For me, it worked. I started this session without any thoughts of negativity, without the normal "this is going to be hard, I'm such a crap runner, I don't know why I bother" and instead acknowledged that the session would be tough, it would be hot, but I am strong and have been working hard and know my body is capable of this if I approach this in the right way.

Amazing. Tonight, I hit the numbers spot on and did even better then I expected. Was it hard? For some of them, yep. Did some negative thoughts creep in? Yes - but the difference was that I controlled them better then I have done in the past. I didn't use them to invalidate my efforts, but just accepted them as a given part of the pain I was pushing my body to accept.

I was so happy with tonight's effort, particularly given the heat. It was such a beautiful night so I went down into the water and iced my legs once the session was done and watched the Spirit of Tasmania leave for the night, other people swimming laps in the ocean and there was even a girl out on her stand up paddle board. It's nights like these that make me feel so fortunate to live in Port Melbourne and have all this on my doorstep.

Tonight was a really important exercise in truly believing in what you are capable of. I read a lot of articles where writers make generalised comments that "you can do anything". I think this is true to an extent. You can do anything with the right approach. Discipline, commitment, execution.

I was relaying my running woes to my friend Richard one day when we were discussing a gazelle like effort of another triathlete. I started a sentence with "I'll never...." and Richard practically choked when he heard these words. This is a man who does not believe in the impossible. He lives and breathes happiness and passion and is of the firm belief that we, as humans, are capable of amazing and wonderful things. He asked me why I thought I'd never be a good runner. I said that my heart rate is too high and it makes it hard. He asked me what the heart was - I said "its an organ, a muscle". He smiled and said "Exactly. And can muscles be trained? Can they get bigger, leaner, do more with less effort?"

And that was the light bulb moment I needed to understand that nothing is impossible. Not even running fast :)