Adjusting the sails

By Aubrey Aldy

Change can be a good thing sometimes.  Changing up a training routine can be just the right thing to bring an athlete to a higher level, or to put the icing on the cake after all the work that’s been done previously.  A forced change due to illness or injury can sometimes be exactly what was needed to keep you from showing up to your “A” race overtrained.  There are countless stories of athletes having this happen both early or late in a season yet still succeeding on the biggest stage when it matters most.  Had they forged ahead like normal and not had the setback I highly doubt the outcomes would be the same.  If they had not been resilient and worked through the issue with the right attitude they just as easily could have lost their chance to succeed in the end.

Often times we become dependent on the routine, and everything needs to line up perfectly in order for our training, or our lives to continue on this predicted path of perfection.  Of course that’s always the goal to strive towards perfection, it is far from reality.  Rather than allowing ourselves to be derailed by a change in our plan, the consistent performers are the ones with most resilience to these changes, whether unforeseen of not.  As athletes, I know we can all think of that race when everything seemed to go perfectly and we had an unbelievable day.  Was it really perfect though?  Could it be that on that day you were in the “zone”, and more resilient overall?  I do believe there is more to being in the zone, finding the flow state, and how to actually get there.  More to come on that topic in the future.

We have all been forced to change our plans and our lives for many reasons relating to the recent Covid-19 pandemic.  I have had days when I wondered why I was going to get up early and train hard alone for hours within a .5mi radius of my house too!  If you like that sort of thing more power to you, but it’s not always easy.  Being resilient and remembering my why’s of running keeps me going.  When this is over, and even before it is, try to remember the positive aspects of the experience, and carry that resilience into your next challenge.  Being the best runner you can be is never about having the perfect plan (there is no such thing).  It’s about believing in it whatever it is, being resilient and adjusting when you need to, leaving the past behind and doing your best in the future.