Diagnosis: Clinic(al)
Five full weeks have gone by since my first session in the half-marathon clinic at the Running Room. In the first week alone, I was made fully aware of all of the associated benefits. Signing up was a very quick decision when I went and bought my new shoes after the National Capital Race Weekend, mostly dependent on whether I thought I could adjust my schedule to accomodate the time requirements. I've had problems in the past following-up that race with continued running in the summertime, mostly because I've become so sensitive about the weather. Summers here are all heat waves and humidity you need a knife to cut. So, running needs to happen when you can find the off hours, either early in the morning or late in the day. And usually I'm either sleeping in or already exhausted at those hours. I really need outside motivation to get out there in the first place, when faced with those sorts of hurdles. Nothing is better than knowing that people are expecting me to show up somewhere to make me get myself there. It's the same thing with my yoga classes: I know the instructor would wonder where I was if I didn't show up one Saturday.
It's not even the monetary investment that is responsible for that outside motivation. These clinics are not that expensive and a good chunk of the cost covers the CoolMax T-shirt included. No, it's the social aspect of the clinic. Runners are a very welcoming group as a whole. It is extremely daunting to tackle the longer distances, the soaring temperatures/humidex, and the harder types of workouts, all by one's lonesome. The encouragement of other runners is great, as is their presence in case of difficulty/injury: there is always someone with you to support you. The way these sessions are set up, I have yet to be unable to find at least a small group at each session who have similar goals to mine, so that we can run together. In fact, the day after the first session of the clinic I just happened to fall into step with another girl about my size (so our stride lengths matched), and we got to chatting as we did a nice 5km route for the Tim Horton's Camp Days promotion. That worked out so well that we're now training partners, and whenever we can both make a practice session we're guaranteed to have someone to work with. She's actually thinking about doing the clinic for the marathon for next year's National Capital Race Weekend, and I might very well join her!
This clinic really has made the concept of doing a marathon a solid possibility in my mind. Before, it was literally a pipe-dream, "wow, wouldn't that be something?" but I had no clue how I'd get myself ready for it! Now I know: I'll join a clinic. The main stumbling block to considering moving my distance up to a marathon was that I didn't have any guidance on how to get there. Back in high school, I had coaches I trusted to train me properly for the races I competed in. I didn't have to figure out the training schedule and measure out training routes. They taught me what I needed to know about eating right, dressing right, stretching right, all of that. And those are the obvious benefits of these clinics: weekly sessions on various topics that impact running, a variety of pre-measured routes, and guidance on what to do out there while running. Instructors are not quite coaches, as this whole endeavour is voluntary, very much a "take what you want from it" arrangement, but it's not like I'm a serious competitor so I don't need a coach, per se. I'm doing this for the sheer enjoyment of the undertaking. So, I've been thinking more seriously about the marathon. There might be a conflict between a work-related conference and next year's National Capital Race Weekend's date, so that marathon might not be an option for me. But doing a clinic for the spring race season would teach me about the requirements of winter training, so I've at least been considering joining a clinic for then. And now that I've been thinking about the marathon, there is one that would be my "dream" race: the original course from Marathon to Athens, over in Greece. I enjoyed my honeymoon there, and the day tours gave me plenty of opportunity to observe the terrain: not flat. Quite the opposite, in fact. But I'd want to do a few on home turf, first. Still, I always wanted to travel, and running and traveling can be quite fun to do together.
My dad recently gave me a newspaper clipping of an article about a study of the effect the type motivation of first-time marathon runners has on whether they'll stick with their training regimen and make it to the starting line. The study found that those who did it because they wanted to lose weight were much more likely to drop out once the "honeymoon" was over and training got tougher. Well, I don't know whether my "honeymoon" period is up, though it's over a month now into a four-month training schedule, but I have mentioned that my weight and body image is a (minor) factor in my training. Yes, I have been a little worried about how I've been softening up a bit over the years, and I know that if it continues I could get in trouble as I grow older. My real goal here is to remain healthy and physically fit. It would be nice to reverse the "softening", but if I can just halt the progression, that's good enough for me. As it is, I've already been noticing a change where I've gotten soft over the years...I'm hoping this tightening up is for real, but it'll be months before I can be sure. And the thing is, I might actually gain weight, as the fat gets replaced by muscle. I don't own a scale, I have no access to one, so I figure as long as I feel confident in how I look, I'm on the right track. Body image is mostly something in one's mind, and the numbers game is often hard to interpret on a personal level. So, I abstain from tracking my body image with hard numbers.
But I do like numbers when they relate to my finishing times, as well as my distance and my pace. Which will be why I'll soon be following up this posting with another about something that I would never have known about had I not taken this clinic. I do hope to be posting more often about my training as, now that I am following a schedule for running, I should be able to follow a schedule for posting, too.
It's not even the monetary investment that is responsible for that outside motivation. These clinics are not that expensive and a good chunk of the cost covers the CoolMax T-shirt included. No, it's the social aspect of the clinic. Runners are a very welcoming group as a whole. It is extremely daunting to tackle the longer distances, the soaring temperatures/humidex, and the harder types of workouts, all by one's lonesome. The encouragement of other runners is great, as is their presence in case of difficulty/injury: there is always someone with you to support you. The way these sessions are set up, I have yet to be unable to find at least a small group at each session who have similar goals to mine, so that we can run together. In fact, the day after the first session of the clinic I just happened to fall into step with another girl about my size (so our stride lengths matched), and we got to chatting as we did a nice 5km route for the Tim Horton's Camp Days promotion. That worked out so well that we're now training partners, and whenever we can both make a practice session we're guaranteed to have someone to work with. She's actually thinking about doing the clinic for the marathon for next year's National Capital Race Weekend, and I might very well join her!
This clinic really has made the concept of doing a marathon a solid possibility in my mind. Before, it was literally a pipe-dream, "wow, wouldn't that be something?" but I had no clue how I'd get myself ready for it! Now I know: I'll join a clinic. The main stumbling block to considering moving my distance up to a marathon was that I didn't have any guidance on how to get there. Back in high school, I had coaches I trusted to train me properly for the races I competed in. I didn't have to figure out the training schedule and measure out training routes. They taught me what I needed to know about eating right, dressing right, stretching right, all of that. And those are the obvious benefits of these clinics: weekly sessions on various topics that impact running, a variety of pre-measured routes, and guidance on what to do out there while running. Instructors are not quite coaches, as this whole endeavour is voluntary, very much a "take what you want from it" arrangement, but it's not like I'm a serious competitor so I don't need a coach, per se. I'm doing this for the sheer enjoyment of the undertaking. So, I've been thinking more seriously about the marathon. There might be a conflict between a work-related conference and next year's National Capital Race Weekend's date, so that marathon might not be an option for me. But doing a clinic for the spring race season would teach me about the requirements of winter training, so I've at least been considering joining a clinic for then. And now that I've been thinking about the marathon, there is one that would be my "dream" race: the original course from Marathon to Athens, over in Greece. I enjoyed my honeymoon there, and the day tours gave me plenty of opportunity to observe the terrain: not flat. Quite the opposite, in fact. But I'd want to do a few on home turf, first. Still, I always wanted to travel, and running and traveling can be quite fun to do together.
My dad recently gave me a newspaper clipping of an article about a study of the effect the type motivation of first-time marathon runners has on whether they'll stick with their training regimen and make it to the starting line. The study found that those who did it because they wanted to lose weight were much more likely to drop out once the "honeymoon" was over and training got tougher. Well, I don't know whether my "honeymoon" period is up, though it's over a month now into a four-month training schedule, but I have mentioned that my weight and body image is a (minor) factor in my training. Yes, I have been a little worried about how I've been softening up a bit over the years, and I know that if it continues I could get in trouble as I grow older. My real goal here is to remain healthy and physically fit. It would be nice to reverse the "softening", but if I can just halt the progression, that's good enough for me. As it is, I've already been noticing a change where I've gotten soft over the years...I'm hoping this tightening up is for real, but it'll be months before I can be sure. And the thing is, I might actually gain weight, as the fat gets replaced by muscle. I don't own a scale, I have no access to one, so I figure as long as I feel confident in how I look, I'm on the right track. Body image is mostly something in one's mind, and the numbers game is often hard to interpret on a personal level. So, I abstain from tracking my body image with hard numbers.
But I do like numbers when they relate to my finishing times, as well as my distance and my pace. Which will be why I'll soon be following up this posting with another about something that I would never have known about had I not taken this clinic. I do hope to be posting more often about my training as, now that I am following a schedule for running, I should be able to follow a schedule for posting, too.