running: the dawn

Yesterday I read an article that a friend posted on Facebook.  It was about elite athletes and their ability to push themselves despite the pain.  It mentioned their mental focus and the ability to train their bodies at and to their limits.  That wasn’t the part that caught my attention though.

“Some think elite athletes have an easy time of it,” Dr. Swart said in a telephone interview. Nothing could be further from the truth. And as athletes improve — getting faster and beating their own records — “it never gets any easier,” Dr. Swart said. “You hurt just as much.” But, he added, “Knowing how to accept that allows people to improve their performance.” (source)

This actually makes me feel better in a weird sort of way.  I don’t know why I had it stuck in my head that running would get “easier” that somehow faster meant I would be more fit and therefore things would come easier.  But it makes sense.  If I’m pushing myself, getting better and stronger, I should continue to perform and race at the edge of my limitations.  Ergo running will continue to be difficult.  Unless I back off and remain satisfied with lesser performance (which doesn’t seem like me…).  The article goes on:

“Our hypothesis is that elite athletes are able to motivate themselves continuously and are able to run the gantlet between pushing too hard — and failing to finish — and underperforming,” Dr. Swart said. To find this motivation, the athletes must resist the feeling that they are too tired and have to slow down, he added. Instead, they have to concentrate on increasing the intensity of their effort. That, Dr. Swart said, takes “mental strength,” but “allows them to perform close to their maximal ability.” (source)

Yes.  The whole concentrating on increasing the intensity is exactly what it takes!  I don’t know why this has taken me so long to figure out and accept!  I always think that I will be successful with an even effort. But the truth is that the longer one performs at a high level the harder it is to sustain that level.  Duh!  I’m seriously having all kinds of epiphanies over here!

It was just a perfect day for me to read something like this.  I don’t want to say that I’m not thrilled and over the moon about my recent BQ, because I AM!  But there’s something in me that wishes I had run a more effortless race.  I’ve been disappointed that it was such a struggle for me.  But after reading this article, I have let go of that disappointment.  I feel like I better understand what happened on race day and that it means I was pushing the boundaries of my current abilities.  I was stretching myself.  Now, by no means am I on the same playing field as the Ryan Halls and Kara Gouchers of the world…but I am learning that I can run on the brink of failure yet find success.