Love-Hate

One thing that I proved to myself while training for Grandma's Marathon is that I have a love-hate relationship with training for races. Show of hands if you understand this statement?

Love:
-that in theory it gives me the motivation to get out there and run.
-that it gives me something to work towards.
-that it gives me measurable data on my progress.


Hate:
-that it starts to make running feel like a chore, something that I have to do.
-that the pressure I put on myself tends to make my running suffer (slower, etc.)
-that I get super frustrated when I miss a planned run - blame it on my Type A tendencies.

----

I don't think I would ever stick to running if I didn't put races on my calendar to keep me going and give me something to work for. I love the thrill of finishing races and the anticipation of setting a new PR. I dislike how much of a chore it can become. Also, on more than one occasion over the last two years, I have struggled to increase my pace and meet different goals when in the midst of a training cycle; however, as soon as I am back to just running for fun, it again feels so fun and enjoyable, and my pace speeds up without me realizing what I am doing differently.

Will I stop signing up for races? No!

I am hoping that as I get more experience, that not every race will have so much pressure. Sure, I will want to push to PR - and I think that I am in a spot in my fitness and running that PRs are sort of a given right now (and I say that loosely) - but I have noticed that distances I have run a number of times are less stressful. I don't necessarily train for them - but purposefully put them into my training/work out calendar - and I don't ponder on it and stress over it. For example, the Diploma Dash I did in June. I spontaneously signed up, and knew I could push myself for 3.1 miles, even in the midst of marathon training. Another example was the Earth Day half in April. That was the calmest I have felt going into a half-marathon (it was my third). I think a lot of it was due to the fact that it wasn't my "goal" race; it was part of my training for Grandma's.

I will continue to run half marathons, for sure. Right now, I would say it is my favorite distance. I have the confidence that I can cover the distance, and also feel like I can push myself but still be challenged. I will likely do another marathon, but won't commit to more than that until I see if the training goes any differently than it did this time around. 5ks, 10ks and other random distances are just too "easy" to pass up if it works out! Easy meaning fun and short enough to jump into, not that the distances are easy and should be taken too lightly.

With that said, I will continue to evaluate how I feel running when training for a race compared to how I feel running just to run. Does the love-hate ebb and flow? Is it always harder when training than when maintaining? What are my true reasons for running and what do I want to focus on?

----

Now that I wrote all that, I find it ironic that I am talking about this when I am clearly running more races than ever before. When the year started I had five races I wanted to do. Looking forward, I will end the year with 9, 10, or maybe more races completed. I have never ran more than 3 (?) in a year. It has been fun to just throw in a 5k or 10k though.

----

So - what is your mindset and attitude towards racing? Do you have a love-hate relationship with races, and how do you keep it in check?