Lucky Run?

Training isn't like running at the gym. Training is about tearing you down, making you push through and challenging every fiber in your body. Running at the gym is usually the same few miles over and over so that your body is conditioned and you feel great after a run! Feeling great after a training run is more like winning the lottery, you have to be very lucky.

Training runs, short or long, have a purpose, usually that purpose feels like it is to kill you, but it is there to push you to the limits and believe it or not, break through to new levels of distance or speed or both. All of which can leave you sore and crying and ready to quit. In fact, I'm sure the training that goes into a race is built on the phrase "I quit". The amazing thing is that you don't. Some how you fight the urge to quit, you fight the nagging in your head that screams "you can't do this!". Somewhere deep inside you, you fight back, you want to prove that voice wrong.

Some races are meant to be celebrated as victories simply for crossing the finish line, even if you are dead last. Some trainings have been so full of emotional or physical hurdles that they require you to beam with pride simply because you made it to the starting line at all. Some races are to prove that you can do anything you set your mind to. And sometimes you are lucky enough to set a personal record.

So for all of you out there struggling with your training, asking yourself if it is too much, remember that doing something that challenges yourself is never easy. The reward is the feeling of accomplishment that you have won against that voice that said you couldn't do it. Fighting through the training is a victory that will change your life forever. Find a way and make your own luck.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com

The Wall

It is Monday and just getting out of bed feels like a marathon. Maybe I have hit "The Wall".

"The Wall" a term most people are familiar with even if they are NOT runners, is a term most runners fear. My fear around it comes with the complete melt down at my half marathon. The training was tough and haphazard due to injury, but I finished the race...then proceeded to be sicker than ever in my life. I decided that perhaps running is not good for my body. With time I began to train again, like a child, distraction had completely erased the details of the event (or my massive consumption of wine had killed those brain cells). This time as I approached the 12 miles and the cursed 13, my gall bladder gave out and I had to have surgery. Recovery took much longer than expected and once on my feet again, I found I was determined to train AGAIN. What can I say, my husband was/ is sneaking me crazy pills. As training picked up, I again faltered at 12 miles and the ugly 13 miler won. Jesse continued to train and ran another Marathon with Chris. It was obvious that "The Wall" for me was mile 13.

Friday, I ran 14 miles. As Jesse and I ran past mile 13, Jess said "look, there was no big brick wall there" and he is right, I ran past mile 13 without my legs disintegrating under me or my heart exploding in my chest.

I have tender feet and heavy exhausted legs. Monday morning means a new week and a looming 16 mile run. Today I somehow have to will myself onto the treadmill for a 7 miler. They say that "The Wall" is as much mental as it is physical, so what keeps you running when all you want to do is stop? What gets you out of bed on Monday morning when all you want to do is sleep?

I will ponder this while I put up my feet and have another cup of coffee...or...is it too early to have a glass of wine?

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!

www.VivacWinery.com