Certified Rollers

Normally, I don’t consider myself to be a big New Year guy. I have always viewed it as just another day. I mean, what is really stopping anyone from doing any of the things that they set out to do for the new year at any other point in time? All that said, I ended 2018 in a bit of a rut. The very thing I set out to avoid! I won’t rehash it here. I’ve spent plenty of time bemoaning the hamstring injury that kept me from running for pretty much the entire fall. It is what it is. But with the new year upon us, I feel like this is a good time to do a bit of a reset. In this case, I’m allowing myself to use January 1st as a fresh start. It’s time to wipe away the frustrations that I closed 2018 with and start anew with fresh perspective and goals. Here’s what I’m looking forward to in 2019.

Starting from scratch. Typically, I would hate that I’m starting from scratch with training. It’s something that I have actively tried to avoid over the last couple of years, which if I’m looking in the mirror is probably one of the reasons why I’m forced to start from scratch. I’m trying to view it through a more optimistic lens though. It’s about choosing to versus being forced to. It’s where I am right now. I’m certainly rested. And if I’m smart there is no reason why I can’t build back up and have a good year of running ahead of me. The key here is being smart. Rest isn’t laziness. The recovery is an equally important part of the work.

My 2019 Goals…
My goals for 2019 are different than they have been for the last few years. I’m not focusing on results the way I have in the past. This year is more about the challenge and adventure. Part of that is because I don’t know when exactly I’ll be back in a position to worry about results, but I like to think that I’ve learned to care more about the journey than the destination as I have matured as a person and as an athlete.

These goals are probably a little vague but whatever. This is my blog so my rules.

Trying new things…
Since I don’t know when I’ll be back to a full regiment of training and racing I need some goals. Now that I’ve got a capable bike, this is the year I take a shot at the two gravel races I’ve had my eye on for a while, Currahee and Southern Cross. The first is a 36-mile gravel ride that includes a bunch of climbing, including the three miles up and three miles down Currahee made famous by Easy Company of the 501st and Band of Brothers. The second is similar to the Fools Gold mountain bike race I suffered my way through a few years ago but cuts out most of the single track, trading it for more forest service roads. While these are races, I am a terrible cyclist and have little to no idea what I’m doing. With that in mind, I have zero expectations other than to push myself and try something out of my comfort zone. I really just want to find my group and finish. Now, I just need to start riding my bike.

Take Three Seconds…
A little bit before the holidays I was at a mini-seminar deal and the guy that was speaking – Steve Shenbaum had people playing this game where they had three seconds to name a different item with him randomly selecting people. One round it was breakfast foods and another round it was cars. Silly game, but one of the things he noted afterward is that whenever he’s played that game, no one takes their full three seconds. Everyone is rushing to fire out an answer as quick as possible. Take three seconds. Basically, take a deep breath and think through things.

This might be a stretch, but one of the ways I want to incorporate that into my daily route is through a written running log. I spend way too much time in front of a screen. Whether it’s my computer, my phone, the TV whatever it feels like I am always looking at a screen. One of the challenges I run into with writing more is that I often find myself not wanting to spend more time in front of my computer than I already do. Thankfully, Territory Run Co released an awesome running log/journal for 2019. Amanda took note of it and ordered me one for Christmas. I haven’t kept a written log in forever. I’ve done pretty much all of my logging on Strava and while I will continue to utilize that I am really excited to get back to keeping a log with pen and paper. It should give me a chance to take a moment each day to reflect on the work done and be mindful of the efforts that I’m putting in. It’ll be more than three seconds, but you get the idea.

Warm up to run, not run to warm up…
I am very fortunate to work closely with professional athletes on a daily basis and while I can’t relate to everything they do when it comes to training, I do occasionally pick up a nugget or two that I can tweak to make work for me. For example, one such athlete was recently talking about what they’ve changed as they have gotten older. One of those things was warming up and that struck a chord with me. I’ve pretty much always just warmed up by running. I think I’m like a lot of people in that way. I’d run for 10 minutes or 2 miles before a workout or just ease into a normal run as my warm up. With my nagging hamstring I’ve had to get the muscles activated before any running and the more work I’ve done warming the muscles up, the better it feels when I run. The days of jumping out of bed and rolling out the door might be over for me but if that’s was it takes to keep things rolling, then it’s a lesson learned as I try to stay competitive as I get older.

Be okay with where I’m at…
don’t worry about comparing myself to others or ever comparing myself to where I have been at other times. I’m at where I’m at and that’s okay. I sound like Dr. Seuss in a cut off hoodie – “I am where I am and it is what it is” – Regardless, I need to learn to be okay with starting over and building my way up. It’s a waste of energy to lament about a time when I was faster or stronger. All I can do is work. Oddly enough, I saw this tweet from Mario Fraioli about 10 minutes after I wrote this.

As we head into the new year and start setting training/racing goals for 2019, it’s important to remember that building fitness is a patient process. Step 1: Accept where you are right now. Step 2: Start there. Step 3: Don’t get ahead of yourself. Step 4: Go back to Step 1.

— Mario Fraioli (@mariofraioli) December 30, 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Create an adventure challenge…
This one is inspired by Outside & Merrell’s Beat Monday YouTube series and triathlete Eric Lagerstrom’s Overland Tri. I want to create an adventure route and take a day to tackle it. Maybe it’s multi-sport. I ride my bike somewhere then run then ride home. Maybe it’s a big run/hike. I’m not sure yet but I want to try and plan something and go for it either solo or with friends. This one might be a good one for one of my trips home, but we’ll see.

Do at least one fun run per week…
One run that’s about enjoying the run. Time and distance don’t matter. I want to go somewhere different from the normal Monday-Friday route. Most days I’m going to run one of the loops near the house and save the adventure or fun runs for the weekend, but this year I want to try and work in more of those during the week. I want to get up early and do a sunrise run or hit a trail that I would normally do on a weekend when I have more time. Something different. Once a week.

That’s it for the 2019 goals. As I said, they are a little vague and open to interpretation, but I wanted to mix it up a little bit. I feel like every year at this time I say my goals are to win this or finish high at this race. Sure, I still want to run well any time I am racing, but if not being able to run for the better part of three months taught me anything it’s that I don’t do this to win or run fast times. Those are very nice byproducts of doing this because I enjoy it. The goals above are about enjoying getting out there and getting after it.