The bigger picture – running and lifecycles

We are at a crux in our running life.

‘Crux’ is a Latin word that means ‘cross’.  It is cognate with words like crucifix and crucify.  The original Latin was more any sort of tree or wooden scaffolding that you hung criminals on to be executed.

In the sense I have used it, it means cross as in cross-roads.  A point where the roads diverge, and you have to choose a path.  This makes it sound too binary and divergent though and what I intend is more of a decision point or a point of potential change and adaptation.

I am getting a year older in November and I’m getting closer to one of those ‘landmark’ ages that means a new age group, but also means I need to think about my approach to my sport.

We have seen Cruxes before.  When I transitioned my last big age group, I adapted my training approach so that I could keep running healthy.

And that’s what I want to talk to you about today.

What are the things that enable you to not only keep running, but also keep competing as you age up?  How do you keep the dream alive, so to speak, without suffering too much?

If you’ve been hanging around with me for the past 2 decades you’ll observe that my running has cycles.

Cycles of learning.

Cycles of performance.

Cycles of adventure.

Cycles of injury and reassessment.

This is true, not just for me.  It’s true for every runner.

When I first got the bug, early on, I was so enthusiastic I learned a lot, and I learned it fast.  Those cycles of learning and injury were very fast.  Months.  I’d go after a race, get hurt, learn something, adapt, and go after another race.

As I matured, I learned my way around most of the common injuries. The cycles of learning got longer and deeper.   The injuries, and the learning, were more profound and the cycles longer.

There would be longer periods of stasis.   Nice long cycle of performance -years long. Then I would be gifted an injury that took years to learn from.

I feel like this current injury is one of those.  I felt it over the last 2-3 years.  I felt like I was just showing up and not really getting anywhere.  Going through the motions.

In retrospect maybe my body was talking to me.  Telling me I needed to change things up.

Like most runners, I don’t listen well when my body talks to me.  I try to ignore the signals and push through.

We tend to hold on to what used to work and what used to be the norm.  Beliefs and practices are so deeply ingrained in our lifestyle that we cling to them like a life preserver, even when we’re drowning.

So what do we need to do in this next season of life?

Let’s start with what we know won’t work.

In the first season of my running, it was all about performance.  My training was to run high volume, and intense speedwork for specific races, like the Boston Marathon. I spent two nights a week down at the track grinding our 1600’s.  I ran 7 days a week.

This was a great season of my running.  I set PR’s.  I qualified.  I finished in the top 10%.  I was, for a fleeting moment a respectable racer.

That is great training for a person in their 20’s and 30’s but not so much for me as I grew older.

In the second season of my running, I focused on fitness. Heart rate training to get that big fitness reserve.  I still salted in some quality work, but much less of it, and typically at a lower intensity.  I maxed out at 5 times a week and usually less.  I embraced more strength and core work.

This season was also great.  I harvested.  I ran many events, many marathons, many trail races, triathlons, mountain bike races, mountain races, multi-day relays, and ultras distances.

Now I feel like I’m entering into yet another season.

What is the training and racing of this season?

I am researching that as we speak but I think I have a starting idea.

First this season will go back to a focus on heart rate training to rebuild the fitness I have lost.  I have strayed from heart rate training over the past couple years, and I need to get back to it.  Aerobic fitness is the great enabler.

Second, this season will clearly require more recovery time.  As you age you lose your ability to recover quickly.  Recovery is where fitness and strength is manufactured.  All training is a push and recovery, stress and response.

If you don’t give your body time to recover you are essentially digging a hole.  At the bottom of that hole is your next injury and burnout.

Third, strength becomes even more important.  As you age the loss of muscle mass accelerates.  That will require more targeted focus.

Fourth, the intensity will need to be lower.  It’s ok to take a walk break.  It’s ok to rest.  You get as much benefit from the right workout at 75% effort as the wrong workout with 100% effort.

Fifth, along with strength you need balance and flexibility.  Let’s face it, all the fitness in the world doesn’t help if you can’t bend over to pick something up, or you are tripping over your feet.

So, my friends, I think as we move into this next season we are going to learn some new things.  We are going to acquire some new habits.

That’s the way seasons of change work.

You get punched in the mouth and you learn something from it so that you don’t get punched again, at least not right away.