I had a great day at work. Even though it was 80+ degrees in Seattle today (way outside the normal Seattle comfortable non-complaining range of 40-70 degrees), which makes first graders cranky and somehow motivates them to do everything possible to annoy their classmates, I still had a great day at work. It's the time of year when I look back at where these little guys started in September and clearly see how amazingly far they've come. Even as they're squabbling over who's touching who on the carpet and who cut who in line, I felt like I had the big picture in my head all day. They've come so far.
I've also been getting a lot of positive feedback from coworkers, my principal, and even district-level employees in the past couple days. My love for problem-solving based math instruction has somehow trickled its way through my district, and now I'm getting emails left and right from teachers and district leaders who want to come and watch me teach. I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, but I've put a lot of work into becoming the teacher I am today, and it feels absolutely amazing to have my name being tossed around the district as an expert at what I do, after less than a year in this district. And while the recognition alone is exciting, it's even more exciting that I get to help other teachers learn to teach this way. A few people have expressed how surprised they were that I was so willing to open my door to let people into my classroom, but for me that is the most exciting part. Helping spread the love for an instructional technique for teaching math that I believe truly works is something I'm MORE than willing to do.
And then, after this great day at work, as the kids went flying (yes, I'm pretty sure they flew) out the door, one thought popped into my head: "Today I get to run." It wasn't "today I need to run," or "today I have to run." It was "today I GET to run." It wasn't a feeling of dread or discomfort that accompanied this thought. This thought made me happy. Today, I wanted to run. And, my god, that was a great feeling. It's been a really long time since I've felt that feeling.
And then, after I went on my 60 minute run--the fourth (FOURTH!!) run in the past week, which also means the fourth run since October, that has been pain free--all I wanted to do was come home and tell you all about my day. I felt that old familiar urge to write. Which is another feeling I haven't had in a really long time.
The reason that I was so excited for today's run, and the reason that today's run felt so good was because I spent this past weekend being trained as a Lydiard Foundation certified running coach.
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1) Listen to your body. The most important thing you can do for yourself as a runner is listen to what your body is telling you. If your body is telling you that it's tired, it probably is. If your body is telling you that your speed work is a little too much, you should probably cut back a little. And if your body is telling you that it feels great, it's important to acknowledge that too. I've spent the last few months preaching about how I need to listen to my body, slow down, and pay attention to what it's telling me, but I haven't really been listening. I've still had this "pace" in my head, this idea that if I'm not pushing it or my watch isn't registering certain numbers then I'm not being successful as a runner. And I had a certain amount of shame attached to that. Today when I ran, I felt free from those all of the pressures. I had forgotten what that kind of freedom felt like.
2) Every runner is different. What works for me may not work for everyone. And what works for my running friends may not work for me. This ties directly into the point above--we all need to listen to our bodies and tailor the training that we're doing to fit what our own body needs and what it's telling us. It's important to figure out what works for each runner. I found this to be incredibly similar to the how important it is for me as a teacher to figure out how each of my individual first graders learn best. In fact, I made quite a few connections between teaching and running this weekend and then today happened to stumble upon not just one but two completely unrelated articles about teaching that compared the trials we face as teachers to running. The way I adjust my teaching to fit the needs of each of my students, I must adjust my running to fit my own needs. And when I start coaching again, I'll begin to adjust our training plan to fit the needs of each of those runners.
3) Forget speed. This one isn't new. I know that when I'm training for a marathon I shouldn't be running fast on my long run or easy run days. I shouldn't be worried about pushing my body to hit a certain speed or certain number of miles. I've always known that. The difference now is that I know why. I'm the type of person who needs to know why. Now I know that when I'm building my base, running my long slow runs, I need to be running slow in order to build up my aerobic endurance. As soon as I start speeding up, hitting the threshold of my anaerobic system, I am no longer building endurance. I have pushed myself into training a completely different system, defeating the purpose of the long run. Right now, my body can only go as fast as it will go. As I continue running and building endurance, followed by more specific hill and strength workouts, speed will come. I can't force it. And if I try to, I will only end up making myself slower.
4) Recovery is everything. Again, this ties into paying attention to your body. If your body isn't recovered from the track intervals you did two days ago, don't go out and do track intervals again. The are easily identifiable signs of recovery that you can track. If you push your body to do more when it isn't recovered and ready, again you are working against yourself. Instead of getting stronger and stronger, you'll depress the systems in your body further and further until running becomes something you simply don't want to do anymore. I know this to be true, because I realized that that is exactly what I've been feeling for the last year and a half. My body has been fighting for a long time to fully recover from the stress I've put it under, and I haven't let it. Which is why running has been so miserable for me for so long.
5) Your mind is as important as your body. It is so important to feel good about yourself. It is so important to end every run feeling happy and satisfied and proud. Because if you don't, why would you go back and do it again the next day? What possible reason could you have for going out there and doing this thing again that makes you feel miserable and horrible about yourself? If you don't feel good on a run, slow down. Say you are in the middle of a track workout, feeling spent but great, but the schedule says you have one more set to go. Don't do the last set. You know that your body can't handle it, and if you push it then you will end the workout feeling tired, miserable, and angry that you struggled through the last set. If you don't do that set, you'll leave the track feeling good. You'll want to come back again next week and see if you can make it through that last set. Because next week, you probably will. A positive attitude is everything, and if you find the negative attitude creeping in a little too often, it's time to take a few recovery days to get your mind and your body back together.
6) This training season isn't everything. Each training season builds on the next. As I build my aerobic base for Eugene, I'm also building a base for my next marathon. As I go through the training pyramid, reaching my peak on race day, my next training season will have the foundation of this training season. My next training season, I will get faster. Which means that if I don't hit all my goals this season, it's ok. Next season I'll be even better. Because the great thing about Lydiard is that it's designed to help you improve with each training cycle, regardless of your age or fitness level. It's designed to help you break through those barriers that either you or the world around you have imposed upon you. Before this weekend, a Boston Qualifying race seemed like an unreachable goal for me until I hit a much older age group and the time demands lowered. But now, I can see BQing as an attainable goal for myself in the next couple years. It's not going to happen in Eugene. It probably won't even happen in the next marathon. But as I keep training, building season upon season, I think I'll be able to get there. Suddenly a BQ doesn't seem like a pipe dream anymore because I'm making goals that are more than 3 months away from today. I'm making goals that go past my current training season.
I learned so much this weekend about how to be a good coach, how to training for many different races, and how to design a training program for people of all abilities. But I also learned a lot about myself as a runner. The Lydiard training theory seems to have laid a lens over my entire running career, making every improvement and every defeat so clear. I can see why things worked when they worked and why I crashed and burned in the last year and a half. I can see why I loved running so much in the first 4 years, and why the last stretch has been so incredibly difficult, dissatisfying, and frustrating. Now that I know the theory and the science behind it, it's amazing how clear it all is.
And maybe sometime soon I'll explain to you why my running career has taken the twists and turns it has over the years. Maybe sometime soon I'll sit here and analyze it all for you, in the hopes that by thinking through my own mistakes and successes in a logical way, it can help you as much as it helps me. But today is not that day.
Because today was a great day. Today, I officially started training for the Eugene Marathon. Today, I had a really great, pain free run, and I don't care what my pace was. Today I got a few solid confidence boosters at work. Today, half my class brought me flowers because it's my district it's Teacher Appreciate Week. Today, I realized how much I've taught all those little guys. Today, I woke up feeling good. And I will go to bed feeling good too.
I hope you can find a way to make that happen for yourself, too. If not, just think...tomorrow will be a great day and everything will be ok.
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