This is the last day of the year and I notice that just one more post will bring the annual total up to the nice round number of 90. Hmm so now I must think of something to say.
I could of course write about all the running I have been doing and exercise I have been taking but there would be no words – only a blank page. I have been doing nothing. Christmas has been a period of eating, drinking, people coming, more eating and drinking, more people coming, etc. Although there have been times when I could have gone out a combination of physical lethargy and bad weather meant I really did not feel like it.
Surprisingly I am not beating myself up about this because I have classified the time as ‘Off Season’ – and I am sure it is a good thing. The balance I am always trying to strike in running is between consistency of effort, the necessity of running regularly, and keeping fresh, maintaining enjoyment. I know I have a deep need to exercise: to feel alert and well but I do not want it to be merely functional and feel like a chore. I want it to be enjoyable.
The best way to achieve this is to be smart with my regime and plan for variety. There should not only be a mixture of activities to cover strength and flexibility as well as stamina, within the single discipline of running there should also be changes. There needs to be different challenges to keeping things fresh: new routes, hills, more speed, slower and longer, arbitrary targets. (My resolution for 2010 is to be better at this).
But I also think there has to be a pattern of peaks and troughs of intensity and sometimes there needs to be a break: hence the idea of an off-season and Christmas is a good time for this.
Some of my Christmas reading time has been spent flicking through my collection of running books: picking up the odd idea, reinforcing my belief that what I do is worthwhile, reaffirming myself as a runner, and most importantly letting my imagination roam. When reading these books I picture myself running freely and easily, and feel the sensation of possibilities. It whets my appetite makes me keen to start the New Year with a new programme and to look forward.
The break has reminded me that the imagination needs as much attention as physical mechanics. After all, in the words of Yogi Berra, 90% of what we do is half mental.
3 comments:
Happy New Year! Hope you're enjoying the reflective off season.
Going back to kids and exercise, there was a programme on radio last week about childhood obesity and the Early Bird diabetes research project. Really interesting stuff, particularly the comparison of prep school and inner city comp.
Happy New Year, best wishes for lots of good runs!
Thak you both for the wishes and I hope you both have a good 2010.
TH Thank you for those links, they were very interesting. I think I might have to write about it later.
Especially taken by the idea that the intuitively obvious responses are not necessarily correct.
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