Monday, May 11, 2015

Subtle Pressure is Dragging Me Down

I'm slowly being dragged down by subtle pressure I put on myself. Crazy, right?  I'm tired. Running should be fun and stress free. I've been putting subtle, maybe even subconscious, pressure on myself to perform well. Run faster. Set personal records. Measure and improve. Read and apply new techniques and strategies. Change, measure, evaluate. Revise and plan again. It never ends.

No more. I'm going to run how I want. I'm going to listen to my body. No heart rate or pace alarms. I'll still measure and record my runs, but I won't be driven or pressured into following a set plan each day. Just run. It's simple. One foot in front of the other. Repeat. Sometimes fast, other times slow. Sometimes up a hill, sometimes down a hill, or over a creek and through the mud. Sounds good.

It's time to enjoy my running. Yes, I'd like to improve too, but most important is to remain injury-free and happy with my running. Let's see how this "new" approach works. I'm getting too old to pressure myself into running goals that create extra stress. Time to keep it simple. Just run.

2 comments:

Seth said...

We need to do an analysis on your training cycle. You seem to go through periods of being extremely serious about following a plan. Then you change plans. Repeat this a few times until we get to the point where you come to the realization that 'running should be fun!' Rinse. Repeat. The cycle takes about 6 months I'd guess. Are you conscious of this? Does it matter? Is there something to be learned from this? I definitely don't mean this as a criticism but only an observation.

Chris Ⓥ said...

It's all good Seth. I'm well aware of my cycles and issues with running. Just ask Riddle. I'm now in my "just run" phase with no goals. Don't worry, I can still whip Seth and Company on the Thursday evening trail runs!