Friday, August 11, 2006

No offense intended!!!

A couple of days ago, I wrote in an entry entitled "Ramblings..."

So many times I hear runners say they had a bad easy run because they averaged 10:00 min/mile pace instead of the 9:30 average pace they ran the same distance at last week. They say this was a bad workout because "I had to walk the last mile." Well, boo hoo!!! IMHO, runners who think this way just haven't been humbled enough by this sport to realize what a complex, beautiful, adaptable, intricate system the human body is. And then you throw in the mind and the spirit and all the external factors. How dare we say we've had a bad run just because we were a few seconds off or had to walk a little. How arrogant to think we have it all figured out to that degree. I'm really preaching to myself so readers, don't take offense.

I just wanted to say that this comment was not directed at anyone in particular. When I wrote this, it was mainly directed at myself (as stated) and was precipitated by a couple of runs lately that have not gone as planned. In particular, I remember a 5 mile long run a couple of weeks ago where I bonked at the end and had to walk/run the last mile. Then on Tuesday, I had to walk the entire last mile cooldown of a tempo run. So, I'm saying to me, don't be so arrogant as to think that you should be able to look at a hr monitor or a previous run and know everything about running and performance. So, that's where I was coming from. So, please, if anyone took offense to this comment, I apologize. It was wholly and completely directed at myself.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a feeling I should go back and read some comments to you on previous posts! I'm very bad about reading comments, I rarely do and probably miss half of the experience.

Well you know I always use my HRM. I don't look at it any more than I look at my watch during the actual time I'm running (which means not at all unless it's dinging at me) but I do always pull down the stats afterwards.

'Cause I'm into stats! Stats are cool man!

Unknown said...

Sorry for the misunderstanding, Barbara. It wasn't a comment. It was acually in a post. Guess it was a comment(ary) in a post. :)

Bon said...

Vic I don't think you should apologize for that statement. You were right. I am guilty of chastising myself for not running faster or farther each workout, and I know its wrong. It's our nature as competitors (and we are all competitors with ourselves) to do that, but we strive for the enlightenment to take things as they come. I took your comments as a good lesson that I need to learn.

Humble Runner said...

We all blog about different experiences and emotions. Some of us (me) whine too much, but that is what I chose to blog about. I don’t ask for a lot of help when my running is going well, but our close knit community has a way of helping you through the “bad times”. It's funny, I don't blog much about really good runs. That’s a problem, because I dwell too much of the fewer bad runs. It's something I need to work on.

No offense taken, Vic. You wrote how YOU felt. Don't ever apologize for that.

WalkSports.com said...

To me, the key words in that post were "...And then you throw in the mind and the spirit and all the external factors."

If I could straighten out those three things, all of my runs would be great! Until then, I have to learn to deal with it.

Preach on! :)

Anonymous said...

Vick---I think you TOTALLY rock, man and I can really relate. I can't tell you how many times I am out there, on the road, berating myself b/ I am too slow or going slower than I did a few days ago or whatever----thanks for keeping me inspired. :)Tate.

Humble Runner said...

Whats up, dude? We are still waiting for the BIG 5k race report. Tell us about it.