Sunday, March 8, 2009

Training: Half-Way There!

Today marked the end of my eighth week of marathon training, which means I am halfway through the program. I ran a tough 14 miles today to cap the week, and am really feeling it right now. Sore knees, sore ankles, sore feet. Fortunately, my wife blessed me with a massage gift certificate for my birthday. Think I'll be using that this week!

At any rate, the best part of today's run was when I achieved what the book refers to as "flow." The authors go pretty in-depth in explaining flow, but suffice it to say that it's a state of the mind when nearly everything seems effortless. Athletes often experience flow, and according to the book, many have mastered the ability to create it on demand, as opposed to waiting for it to appear by chance. I worked pretty hard on achieving flow today, and for about three miles I believe I found it. It takes some effort, and lots of mental mastery as a person really needs to be able to shut out everything else going on around him/her. Not the easiest thing to accomplish, but when I did get there, those three miles went very fast and were easily the best part of my run.

I will work dutifully this week in achieving flow quicker and using it more as the runs continue to get longer and longer. And as always, at the end of another training week, I am thankful for the aches and pains as they signify that my body is repairing, recovering, and that I have my physical health.

1 comment:

Ang said...

MISTER SISTER!
Here I was searching about IDT and your blog popped up. Had a great time in the class last week! See you in LaCrosse!