I had a never-before-experienced moment on Saturday evening. We were staying in a hotel for my daughter's soccer tournament. We'd spent the entire day waiting, pacing, watching, sitting beside soccer fields, ie. zero exercise. It was brutally hot anyway. I'd brought my running gear but decided to wait til the evening and run on a treadmill at the hotel.
I was the only person in the exercise room. I have no idea how far or fast I ran because it seemed to be in miles. All I know is that it felt fabulous to run off all that angst and anxiety and restlessness, and that I kept pushing the button to go faster. At the end I ran a few intervals, fast, then slow, then fast, then slow. I was pouring with sweat when I stepped off the machine.
I walked to the elevator with another woman and her two children, who were coming from the pool. She said, "You look like you've come from a sauna."
"Nope. Just went for a fast run," I told her. I was feeling a little self-conscious, as I always do when I'm pouring sweat in my exercise clothes. (This situation happens to me often at soccer practice, and I always take care to stand a small distance away from other parents, because, frankly, what I need is a shower.)
On the elevator, she said, "Do you run a lot then?"
"Yes," I said. "I swim too." I almost added "and I swing weights around once a week, and sometimes do spin class," but I didn't want to sound like an exercise maniac.
"That must be how you got this fabulous body," she said. "You have a fabulous body!"
The women's heptathlon went on Saturday. Now those women--they have fabulous bodies. I would trade bodies with them. Who wouldn't want Jessica Zelinka's abs? But I must say that it was quite an ego boost. Out of the blue, being complimented on my body, which is not a fashion model body by any means -- it's strong and muscular. That was quite the ego boost.
In the ego busting section, despite having worked my body into what looks like its athletic prime, I can't seem to run any faster. Why??? I'm working so hard! Sometimes I think my body is a bit of a fake-out for anyone looking on. I look faster and stronger than I actually am. Here's the thing. I didn't start this project to look fabulous. I started it to become an athlete. That's still my goal.
After the success of the swimming experiment, I've decided to start laying on some miles. I plan to run every other day for the next couple of weeks, in hopes that it boosts my fitness in that regard. Otherwise, I can write off the chance to run that 25km trail run in less than eight weeks ...
2 comments:
I am from Peterborough and read your blogs. I am so far from being an athlete that I hesitate to offer you advice but here I go. There is a fellow in town here, Dave Dame. He owns a running store, Runners Life, and runs a running group. He seems very generous with his time and knowledge. I would suggest you email him and outline your regime and your dilemmas. I suspect he would be willing to help. Someone I worked with was a great runner but could not get his time faster but did so once he started running with this group.There is also a website under the Runners Life name and Dave writes a column on running for the local paper. He does not know me but if he is able I think he would offer you advice. Good luck with your goals.
Thanks for taking time to comment, Elizabeth. I appreciate it! I think you are probably right -- that training with a group, especially with a leader willing to tailor training especially to my needs, would help me achieve the goal of going faster.
I will think about it.
Part of me wonders whether I should accept that I'm getting older, not younger, and that I've had an injury this past year that slowed me down. It was so encouraging to see so much progress when I first started training for a triathlon--now almost two years ago. Maybe, two years on, I should be looking for other, less obvious measures of success. Or maybe I could still get faster! :)
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