What I learned from this extended training cycle.

1. You can always go deeper, but there are diminishing returns.

I went deep in this training cycle.  My target, or more appropriately ‘re-target’ race at Vermont Cities Marathon coming up this weekend will mark 7 months of work.  That is probably the longest sustained training cycle I have ever done.

I used that time to periodize my approach.  Slowly loosing the extra weight.  Consistently stretching. And slowly building up my speedwork.  It has been an approach designed to take advantage of my patience, maturity and experience as a runner.  It has been an approach to minimize my weaknesses, age and chance of injury.  By stretching out the cycle I could work into the quality and volume I needed to get to a higher level of fitness.

This all worked to plan, in the sense that I’m hitting training paces that I haven’t seen in a decade and on paper I’m as fit as I’ve ever been.  But, there are diminishing returns.  The fitness bump I achieved through this long cycle was not revelatory.  I’m nowhere near what I ran in my 30’s or 40’s.

The training cycle has been all-consuming, effecting my life balance more than it has in the past.  The bottom line is, yes you can always go deeper, but you benefit may not outweigh the investment.  When you get out onto the long tail of your physical abilities the incremental benefits are much more expensive, physically, emotionally and lifestyle-wise.

2. You can stretch too much. You can stretch yourself into injury.

This is a classic case of ‘if a little is good a lot must be better’.  I was having very tight hamstring and quadriceps coming out of the summer.  I decide over this long cycle to fix that.  I decided to stretch every day.

I ended up giving myself tendinitis first in my knees from the quad stretches and then in my high hamstring attach points from the hamstring stretches.  I was doing static stretches.  Those repeated static stretches did stretch the muscle tissue, but also over-stressed the connective tissue.

I’m now doing less static stretching and more strengthening and rolling for those muscles.  Static stretching isn’t bad per se, but you need to balance it with other forms of stretching, strengthening and PT.  Be cognizant of what you’re stretching.  Muscles are tissues that can be broken up and stretched in a certain way.  Tendons and connective tissue need to be cared for in a different way.

3. Doing the work doesn’t guarantee your success.

The race doesn’t care what kind of shape you’re in. The Boston Marathon REALLY doesn’t care.  Doing the work just buys you a ticket to the starting line.  When you’re cutting you times as close as I am there isn’t much wiggle room.  You don’t get to write the story.  A lot of the result still rests with fate and circumstance.   Que Sara Sara.

4. Being skinny doesn’t make you popular.

I lost enough weight to be considered skinny.  I’ve held that weight for a good 3 – 4 months now.  This isn’t a dead cat bounce.  I’ve adjusted to having to cut new holes in my belts and to have even my skinniest pants falling off me.

This is a bit of a revelation for me.  I’ve always carried that extra weight.  I’ve always scoffed at the government weight tables that said I should weigh 165-170 pounds for my height.  Ridiculous! I’m just not built that way!  Guess what?  It turns out 165-170 is a perfectly valid weight for me.

Here’s the catch.  There is not extra joy in finally weighing in at this weight.  You see I always thought if I could only lose that extra 10 pounds my life would be changed.  I’d have more energy.  I’d be faster.  Men would be jealous, and women would swoon over my sleek physique.

Guess what?  I’m just the same person, just a little bit scrawnier.  The same person with the same life, the same challenges and the same demons.  I’m not sure I even like this new shell.  Now I’m terrified to buy new clothes! Something new to worry about!

Let this be a warning to all of you who have lived a life saying to yourself “If only…”  If only the weight, if only the hair, if only the height, of only the voice…If only whatever failing you have latched onto…it’s not true.  You are you and you’d better figure how to live with that.

5. There is no honor in sacrifice to a personal goal.

The thing I miss most from going this deep, this monk-like into a long cycle is all the events and interactions I missed.  I subjugated so much interaction and engagement to the training.

I miss the races.  I miss the people.  I miss the easy miles with my friends.  I miss my dog.

You can always go deeper but be aware of what you’re giving up and what you are giving it up for.  Be careful not to mortgage too much of the journey for the goal.

6. There really is no destination.

In the quiet moments leading up to the race I wonder what I’m going to do when I don’t do this anymore?  Have II associated so much of my ego with this training and the Boston Marathon that I have lost myself?  What does life look like without this training?

When the journey becomes a little bit too closely aligned with the ego, too needy, does that not sully the worthiness of the effort?  And is there a way change this journey to make it more worthy.  I think there is.

That is what I learned from this training cycle and this season of my life.  I would suggest that you can observe your own cycles, and seasons.  You can learn a lot about yourself, life, the world and the universe by observing.

What do you see when you look?