Adam came into the house last Saturday around 8:30am, salty and smelling of fresh wind. I’d been up for about an hour. Had some coffee. Checked the news. If I remember correctly Linden was still asleep. Adam had already run 20. Yup, 20. This is common. What’s uncommon? There are no races on the schedule.
You may also be grappling with a lost spring/summer race season or maybe you’ll be enlightened in the paragraphs that follow… why the heck would someone wake at 5:45AM on a Saturday and push themselves for 20 miles on lonely, semi-soft gravels?
It doesn’t all boil down to the love of sport, believe it or not.
Adam and I approach racing as a side business, fortunately (a.) we love to run and compete and (b.) we don’t have to rely on race winnings to pay our mortgage. In the middle of winter we set goals for the coming race season. We consider the following criteria when planning:
a competitive field (usually that coincides with prize $)
prize money and depth of payout
distance from home
estimated expense to travel (e.g. accommodations, gas mileage, etc.)
Our chance at prize money generally boils down to who shows up to race and how we are feeling on race day. A big benefit for us is that we both compete, which increases our chances at walking away with some profit. What income we do make goes into our savings.
Like any business there are inputs and outputs. We try and limit our inputs wherever possible. We’re fortunate to typically qualify for reduced or free entry. This often requires a qualifying time, which is pre-determined by the race director. Time standards vary from race to race. We race hard and often to earn points with our racing team, Runablaze Iowa. These points help to pay for shoes and offset travel expenses. We have a home gym rather than pay a monthly membership fee. When we do travel for races we try to stay in an Airbnb so we can cook our own meals, which not only saves money but tends to be better for pre-race fueling.
There is a finite amount of time that our bodies will be able to keep up with the front pack and have an honest chance at race winnings. With Adam turning 36 years old in June, he knows his time is running out. So like some of you, we were sad to see postponements and cancellations this spring. Here is a list of all the races we were planning on doing in 2020…Shamrock Shuffle 8k (Chicago, IL), Milwaukee Half Marathon (Flan) / Marathon (Adam), Green Bay Half Marathon (Flan) / Marathon (Adam), Run for the Troops Half Marathon (Flan) / Marathon (Adam). Dam to DSM 20k has been postponed to the fall.
April 23, 2020. We took to the Prairie Farmer Trail for 5k/5mi time trials today.
Since the pandemic was announced, I have continued doing semi regular time trials and Adam has still kept his average at 70 miles a week since December.
The easy road would be to ditch the running shoes and sit around and consume homemade bread, cookies and kettle corn. There’s been plenty of consumption of these things don’t get me wrong, but we continue to drag our butts out the door. For Adam that usually means 6:15am. The truth is we can’t take all spring off from training and expect to still be competitive in the next season (if that’s this fall or beyond).
Out of the three of us, one didn’t think the 8 miles of being lugged around was annnnny fun. He just wanted some of the action and insisted we “race” during my cool down.
Another reason why we continue to exercise is that moderate or regular activity has been shown to increase our immune health. There’s a fine line between training and overtraining, which can wear down the immune system, but thus far in 2020 we’ve been pretty healthy. Previously, my typical pattern tends to be a respiratory illness every 4-5 weeks (regardless of mileage). This year I have had uninterrupted training since February which I contribute to staying healthy, hovering around 35 miles week. Since staying home I haven’t been exposed to much of anything and Linden hasn’t been picking up any bugs at daycare. Perhaps the real reason I’ve stayed healthy is I’m getting more sleep now. No more rushing out the door at 7:00am.
I went first for a 5k (3.1 miles). Adam biked alongside this time for an unofficial 17:45.
Mental:
As much as I’d like to say its all about the physical benefits, we’ve continued to train mostly for our minds. With so much of the world changing on a daily basis, Adam found training to be one of the few things he could count on. The ritual of sitting down on Sunday to pencil in the workouts for the week ahead didn’t change. We both could count on knowing what distance and pace the run would be for the next day. This accountability has become a source of comfort in a world that seems to be shifting beneath our feet every day.
With there being so much depressing news in the media, especially when this first began, running became an additional source of stress. Contending with new routines and staying at home with our toddler left us both exhausted in the early weeks. When we tried and struggled to execute key workouts, running felt like just another additional stress in our life. To maintain balance, we’ve had to back off a little on the hard workouts and shift our mindsets. If the mind feels up to the challenge, then we’ll go for all 10 repeats. If we’re not in the mood, then maybe it’s only 6 or none at all. It’s all about perspective right now and running needs to be a place to relax and escape.
Adam went second immediately following my 5k. I wasn’t expecting a duathlon effort. Holy smokes, I couldn’t keep up with the bike and the trailer … evidence I need to work on some power. He completed his 5 miles in 25:26, with an impressive 4:50 last mile :)
Racing is an art. It can’t be simulated well when you run alone every day. It’s just not possible to push your body as hard as you would when you are with others or vying for that prize money. To try and keep our mental edge for racing, we have done our best to help one another. When I did my time trial tonight, Adam biked alongside for 5k while pulling Linden in the Burley. To return the favor, I did my best to average 12mph pulling Linden while still encouraging Adam to meet his goal. What’s gonna work?….TEAMWORK!
Despite our races being cancelled this spring and losing out on the opportunity to run faster times or make money, our training doesn’t look much different than before. In a world that currently feels very different, it is nice to have something that feels familiar. Whether it’s running or not, I hope you can find something in your life that gives you a sense of order and stability.