Mental Game

If there is one thing I've learned about myself the last 6 weeks or so, it's that my creativity level is in direct proportion with how much time I spend outside.  As you can infer by my lack of blog posts lately, I've been spending almost all my time inside.  In my office.  In my gym. In my apartment.  It's not news to anyone that many parts of the US have had a brutal winter so far, and instead of being hard headed and insisting on increasing my mileage outside on the ice and snow, I've stayed mostly inside on the treadmill, trying to enjoy wearing shorts and streaming Netflix onto the treadmill screen, but in those miles I haven't found myself thinking creatively, I have found myself doing what I can to get through the workout. 

As I am now into what I call 'Phase 2' of my training, I am focusing pretty intensely on the mental aspect of my runs. Instead of focusing all my attention on the episode of WorkOut, or documentary I'm watching, I am trying to simply be where I am.  Stay present in my workout, maybe even connect with people around me to mentally stay in that gym, be in my body, accept that I will be there on that treadmill for 2 or 3 hours, and just be relaxed and patient.  I am sure that most of you can relate to doing something and often times thinking about where you'd rather be, what you'd rather be doing, what you need to do when you're done with the task at hand.  I think that's natural, but I also think it's a drain on your mental power, and lowers your enjoyment level at the present moment.  How brutal is it to be only 6 miles into a 16 miler and all you can think about is what you want to eat, how good your bed probably feels, how you can't wait to check you phone to see how many people 'liked' your status  update that you're doing your long run...  It takes you out of your moment and you're just anxious to be onto the next thing.  And guess what - when you are on to your next task you're probably wishing you were onto the next thing, and so on. 

So that's my current focus, which I think will pay dividends when it comes to my 50k in April.  The conditions are likely to be pretty bad, and I anticipate that it will be slow going - and what could make that worse?  Wishing it was over, wishing I was further along, wishing I was in the car with my finisher's medal on the way home.... I know that being in the moment, accepting that I will be out there for a long time, talking with other runners around me, and doing what I can to enjoy the beauty of the trail will keep me enjoying the most adverse running conditions. 

I did make it a point to get outside for a while today and got creative with my recovery workout.  It was sunny and almost 20° so I threw on some layers, made sure my snowshoes were in the trunk, and went out to Indian Lake.  My legs felt surprisingly good for how tired they were last night during my 16 miler, so I decided to run up all the inclines on the trails to mix things up and get a little extra credit hill work in.  Conditions were a bit icy but the snowshoes handled that well so I was able to enjoy the scenery, appreciate my body's quick recovery, stop here and there to listen to the birds sing, and had a nice conversation with a woman who was cross country skiing.  I did think a bit about what I had planned afterwards, but for the most part my mind stayed on the trail, and appreciated the time spent outside.  Here's a few photos from the snowy trail.