Friday, August 20, 2010

Suffering - Peaks and Valleys

Peaks and valleys.  We all experience them - in sport, at work, in relationships - life, in general, can be described as a series of peaks and valleys.  I know, too, that how you respond to those peaks and valleys is what determines your overall level of satisfaction/happiness.

But, I can't help but be down about my "long" run last night.  After a great run earlier in the week, followed up by a pretty good day at the track on Wednesday, I was totally not expecting an eight mile run to be my death march.  I just couldn't seem to get it right.  From the jump, my HR was completely out of control, nothing I did could get it to come down.  My legs felt heavy and I was even struggling to maintain good posture.

When it was over, we took a look at the distance and time and realized, though, that even with a walk break at the turn-around of the out-and-back, we still were able to maintain a 9:00 pace.  Not bad, but I know I can do better.  Plus, it frickin' hurt like hell and I didn't enjoy it. 

So I leave you with a favorite quote of mine, one that I will be repeating over and again this weekend as a sort of reminder...

"To succeed, you must first improve, to improve, you must first practice, to practice, you must first learn, to learn, you must first fail." - Wesley Woo


The peak and valley I experienced this week are no where near this pretty...

3 comments:

  1. Yeah those days happen. There is always tomorrow. Or a leg massage.

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  2. I had one of those weeks, too. Although swimming had me frustrated to no end. Thank goodness we have three sports to choose from! :)

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  3. Like the quote. Sometimes it's better to just stop the run and maybe enjoy a healthy walk.

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