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Are runners obsessed ?

Posted by David Hardy
David Hardy
VTR Expert
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on Thursday, May 24, 2012
in Road Races

As a runner/triathlete I have a lot of time to think during my long training sessions. I have been thinking a lot lately about the drive most dedicated athletes have for training. Many runners, regardless of ability, are following some type of training plan. This training plan becomes a voice in our heads that refuses to let us relax. You are constantly thinking about the next few workouts and how you plan on including them into your life. There is never an option to skip a workout...typically that is not even discussed. If you are sick or having a real bad day you may shorten a workout but missing one is only reserved for 1-2 times a year life events that prevent you from working out. You will wake up at 3 AM to get a workout in before an early morning flight. You will workout in rain/snow/wind/heat/cold etc. Weather is not an issue. Many times I have seen noticeably sick athletes show up for a race. It begs the question...Why?

I am currently competing in the Good Times 5k Series which is held on 10 consecutive Tuesday nights. In this series points are cumulative for overall prizes at the end of the 10 weeks. This means that if you miss a week you are probably out of the running. What does this make people do? People show up sick, tired, cancel appointments, etc. There have been many examples of people competing the day after running the Boston Marathon or other Marathon events. Your VTR host even ran 2 days after doing the Bassman Half Ironman. Are we not reasonable people? Do we have no "common sense" filter in regards to running? What drives us to keep going at this frenetic rate? Are we obsessed? If we are obsessed what are we obsessed with? Running a certain amount of times a week? Running a certain mileage number no matter what?

My opinion is most people who train seriously as a runner or triathlete are very committed people. This means once we lock onto something we don't stop until we've completed it, no matter what. The drive to continue is very strong and is not easily deterred. This is a great asset to have when you have miles to go in a marathon and you feel terrible.  It helps you finish the race. Unfortunately, most of us can't shut this off in day-to-day life. It is a part of us. That is why we will run a 5k on Tuesday night when we ran a marathon the day before.  At a later date we may agree what we did wasn't the smartest thing to do but soon enough we are in a similar situation, and we do the same thing over again. It is part of us...we can't stop. (oh...I think I just answered my question...I  guess we are obsessed.)

The photo below is me getting an IV after refusing to quit and successfully completing the Timberman Half Ironman in 2009...Nothing wrong with hitting the medical tent after an event, right?

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Westford 10k Road Race Race Report

Posted by Meg Tang
Meg Tang
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on Saturday, May 19, 2012
in Road Races

meg at westford 10kAfter months of searching for my first 10k road race I finally signed up for the Westford 10k Road Race. (See Dave's earlier blog post here) On May 6th I completed the race. It was my first time running a 10k. After only running 5k road races for years I decided to set a goal of completing a half marathon this fall. As this is quite a jump in distance from a 5k I was determined to complete a 10k this spring to build my confidence. If you are familiar with Westford, Massachusetts you may be surprised that I chose to complete my first 10k in this town. Most of Westford is very hilly. After viewing the race several times I realized the course was not as challenging as I had originally thought. I saw that there was a major hill the last mile of the race but at the beginning there was a huge downhill. The middle section of the course featured rolling hills but no major climbs.

I started out a little conservative since this race was my first 10k. I was still a little nervous about completing the event in good shape. The big downhill at the beginning really helps you conserve your energy at the beginning of the race. If I ran the race again I probably would run faster on the downhill but holding back made the first mile very easy. I continued my conservative but steady pace until mile 3 and noticed that I was passing a lot of runners that were breathing heavy while I was not. I decided at that point to pick up the pace. The next few miles were rolling, but I managed to get through that section OK. The hill at the end on Main Street is tough but it is at the end and you know if you just push hard you will soon be at the finish line. I crossed the finish line at 55:33 which was better than I expected. I left the race happy to finish my first 10k but also knowing I could have run faster the first 3 miles. I will continue to run the Good Times 5k race series each week and probably look to run another 10k before I run my half marathon in the fall.

 

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