“I feel like my body is less consistent than it used to be,” I proclaimed during my most recent weekly sports psychology session.

“What do you mean?” Asked Erin Teschuk (@cep mindset), my handy-dandy mental skills coach.

“Well, as I’ve gotten older it seems like I don’t always know what to expect for any given training day or workout and I have to adjust things on the fly,” I answered.

Read more: The Magic in Adaptability

A little backstory…

During our weekly sessions, Erin and I recap my training week. Lately, we’re putting out mental fires that arise as I work through this hamstring injury (see my last blog if you missed that). In this instance, I was referring back to the my longrun from a few days prior and the fact that I had to switch things around due to struggling with the first few days of my period. After missing the Friday at work due to cramping, Saturday’s longrun quickly became Sunday’s longrun after making the decision not to push through massive amounts of fatigue on Saturday. Even so, Sunday was still a struggle with calling it a day an hour earlier than planned. Thank god that Coach Mitch joined me through the sufferfest of a long-run to keep me company.

And now back to present day…

Erin then posed the question, “Could it be a good thing that your body is less consistent, that you have to change things as you get older? Could this actually make you a better athlete and perform better?” This question was, of course, very thought provoking, as is any good psychology session.

On paper it’s always nice to stroke the ego and check all the boxes, finish all the workouts. But, logically of course my training has had to change compared to the way I did things in my mid-20s. And, yes, in many ways that has been so much better for me as an athlete. My relationship with running is in a much healthier place; at one point it was my sole identity and everything revolved around my training. Now, I do still take it very seriously and put it as one of my top priorities, but, there are other things in my life. I have my marriage, my dog, my career as a physiotherapist, side hobbies including rock climbing, and my longevity in the sport. I no longer force my body to do things that would jeopardize my long-term health. For example, in the past, if I had a bad cold even with a full on fever I would pop a few pills and get out the door just to hit mileage goals. I would have pushed through that long run on the prescribed day and really suffered. Now, instead, I looked at that the workout objectively and weighed my options:

• A) Go out when I’m exhausted, get the run in. However, by doing so I likely would take a full week to recover and probably re-injure my hamstring
• B) Push the run, see if I feel better the following day

Clearly, I went with option B. It was still a struggle and I ultimately decided that another hour would not accomplish much if I was already feeling like garbage. This is where maturity and experience in the sport comes in. Some days it is worth pushing through the fatigue to build resilience for that race setting so that you don’t give up when things get tough. But, I’m pretty sure no one has ever described ME, alter ego mini-destructo, as someone who is lazy or gives up. I know that I am stubborn and could have done that run. And that’s all that matters. My core values and attributes are always there to fall back on without have to “go to the well” during my training runs.

I always think back to the story of Alan Webb and his “Driven” flotrack videos back in the day. He set the american mile record in 3:46 but, in doing so went to the well too many times and never was able to come out of it. He even tried switching into triathlons later in life and still had permanent fatigue that came with training which didn’t allow him to ever reach his full potential again.

So that’s how I responded to Erin, “I’ve had to learn to be more adaptable. I’m stubborn and I know I could have forced that run but that wouldn’t have been a smart thing to do. I’m more of a well-rounded person now which helps me to have other things outside of running.”

We then discussed that sometimes those missed workout sessions may have saved us from overtraining, which I agreed. In my experience, missed training sessions here and there only helped me recover and crush a race later on.

And that’s really what I’ve learned during this build towards Black Canyon – the magic in adaptability.

I’ve faced a lot of adversity with life stress, busy work schedules, and managing my hamstring injury. Through all of it, I’ve stayed open and adaptable to changing things as needed. After all, I have almost 20 years of experience training at the elite end of running; I’m pretty sure I know my stuff by now. That’s the true silver lining of training for Black Canyon.

When I chose this race, my purpose was to see if I could train through the winter for a hot race. I expected my greatest challenge to be ensuring I get enough heat training in to allow my body to function in different conditions. Instead, I’ve learned so much about myself as a runner and person. I’ve learned that I don’t have to prove I’m tough, I just am. I don’t have to slug it out on snow covered trails that are sloppy, I can adapt my workout and run on the roads. I can overcome injury and adversity at every step and come out stronger on the otherside. Progress, not perfection.

I have big goals on the trails and know in my bones that I am talented at this. But even more than my desire to accomplish big things is my desire to seek adventure out there on the trails. And sometimes that means backing off for a day or two for the sake of long-term progress and health.

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite running quotes:

“Out on the roads there is fitness and self-discovery and the persons we were destined to be.“

– George A. Sheehan

PS. If you’re looking for some help for this coming season I’m excited to announce that I am now available for coaching services as part of the crew at Hustle and Flow Coaching. We are a Southern Ontario based coaching team that all know these trails very well! So if you’re looking for a trail coach for the year feel free to reach out and we can start that conversation!