Meet Coach Fernando

Before I start the navel-gazing, I must share an excellent post called Lessons Learned from Training to Run 50 Miles by No Meat Athlete.  Go read it and try not to think, "Maybe I could do a 50K."

This morning, rocking my Vibrams, I ran out the door and did an easy 2.5 miles around my neighborhood.  Actually, that's misleading.  What happened was my alarm went off at 5:15, and I got up and reset it for 6.  My dog, Fernando, woke up and said in his phony Spanish accent, "Ay, Monito, I need to make tinkle-times."  Bitching the whole way, I let him out.  Since I was already ambulatory, and since I had so little time before I had to get up anyway, I threw on my gear and went out for a run.

The Vibrams are great.  Even on pavement, they are comfortable and perfect. 

Yesterday, I failed the snooze button test and had to run at lunch when it was 81°.  Surprisingly, the run went well.  In the past, running in that kind of heat sucked for me, but I have been trying to do some mind-hacking around such beliefs.  While it is a fact that hot weather makes me sweat more and drains more energy than cold weather, the belief that I cannot run well in hot weather is just that -- a belief.  I can choose to hold on to that belief, or I can abandon it for one that works better for me. 

In Steve Pavlina's podcast #13 of April 2006, he likened his beliefs to software running on a computer.  If you choose, you can load a particular belief system that works for the circumstances you find yourself in.  When you find it no longer works or is limiting, you can change it or load something more useful or empowering.  I've found this idea intensely compelling since I first heard it.  Now, I am actively applying it to my running.  As the summer has ramped up, I've been working on shutting down the false belief that I cannot run in the heat and replacing it with the opposite belief.  It hasn't been easy.  Usually it involves constant affirmation and self-coaching, but it's working and getting easier.  Yesterday, I ran, sweating profusely, and I ran more lightly and easily than I ever have in such heat.  Constant, gentle pressure is the key.

Think you can't run in a particular way or in a different climate or for a longer distance?  Think again.  Literally.

By the way, when I got back from today's run, Fernando was curled up on the bed next to my wife, sleeping comfortably.  I was a sweaty, stinky mess who needed to get ready to sit in a cubicle all day.  His day was going to involve naps, basking in the sun, and cuddling.  But at least I got my run in.