Run Happy

Interesting to read a running book lately entitled "Run" by Matt Fitzgerald. The subtitle of the book is "The mind-body method of running by feel." While I have only made it a couple chapters into the book, the basic idea is athletes are able to achieve better results when they learn to listen to their bodies. Also key to success is actually enjoying the training and racing. In short, if you are happy to be training and competing, your results will be better than if you push through tough training programs where motivation is hard to find.

The past few months (before reading the book) I had also begun to finally realize this truth by accident. I took a year away from any serious training and competition and when I started to get back my motivation I knew it had to be balanced with all the other aspects of my life. I decided quite quickly it was better to not follow any specific program because it would only create tension in the rest of my life. My training idea became that if I had time, energy and motivation then I would train, and train hard. I also decided that I would try to race as much as possible, because that is where the real fun is at!

Now a few months on from starting this training philosophy it has really begun to show results. Most people (athletes who train seriously) would probably laugh at the disorganization and minimal amount of training I have done in the past 6 months, however, I have found that my fitness and motivation have come to perhaps higher levels than when I was super-serious and following tightly scheduled training plans. And my results are also showing this training philosophy to be true with pr and near pr times in all distances I have raced so far this year.

Back to the book: I find it interesting that I started to read this book after I had kind of figured out the 'run happy' concept for myself. Now I wonder how my earlier sporting success could have been different if I had read the book or figured out on my own that the first priority in reaching full athletic potential is to actually enjoy what you are doing! Funny (or depressing) to think that for 10 years I have been over-training or fighting through injuries or training through days I wish would not have and basically not enjoying sport.

While I am kind of promoting the idea of not following training programs and doing what ever feels good, when ever it feels good, I do have to say that there does need to be some structure to any athlete's preparation. For example, the Run book mentions that famed US distance runner and now coach of many of the country's top athletes, Alberto Salazar, is using the coaching concept of limited scheduling. Salazar does tell his athletes what their program is but basically only a couple days or even less before the actual training. This means they learn to listen to their bodies, tell the coach how they feel and what they think their body needs, then the coach can decide what is appropriate.

Racing Update:

3rd - GP Rosendahl (bike race)

2nd - SM Duathlon (Finnish championships - Short distance)

4th - PM cross country (regional xc championships 6km)

1st - Salo cross country (really local xc championships!)

49th - Porvoon Ajot (fyi, don't try to do insane stair training a couple days before a 180km bike race! Not going to make the race go any easier :D)

Up Next:

- June 18th - Forssa Suvi-Ilta 1/2 marathon (this will be a good chance to try for new PR as course is fast and legs should be good, assuming I recover from my stair training/180km bike race combo, which hurts like hell right now...

- June 21st - Juhannus triathlon - great sprint triathlon organized by our club

- July 1st - SM tempo - Finnish time-trial championships 50km. good test for the legs

- July 2nd - Kisko triathlon - great local triathlon that is perfect for preparation for Finnish Championships.

- July 16th - Finn Triathlon - The big goal for the year! Try to get my fitness back to a level where I can be competing for the win. A true test of all the ideas I written above...