My Son’s Fav Book Taught Me Burnout & Growth | Feb OTW
Seasons might help run a 15:59 5k
Hello, again readers and consumers of my content :cough: art (or what used to be called “media”).
In this edition of ONE THING WEDNESDAY (OTW) we’re going deep on living and training in seasons as we are about to transition from one season to another.
Why I’m writing this
This is a new experiment where in between those three bullet points I send out a very short and thought-provoking piece about general self-improvement but always through the filter of running. It can be anything from training to racing to career or even family and more.
Think longer than an IG reel or story, but shorter than a podcast. That ooey gooey middle spot.
What I want YOU to learn
The goal here is to share more profound and meaningful thoughts and ideas. Maybe these thoughts will inspire you to do something different, leading to a change in your training, racing or life.
Let’s get into this month’s OTW
Seasons.
“Nothing stays the same - everything will change”.
(Vulnerable moment #1)
My 3.5-year-old son showed me a kid’s book yesterday titled “Du Iz Tak”. I thought it was German or Japanese, to be honest. After he showed it to me, he wanted me to sit down and read it to him. This was weird because I’m usually reading it to him when I drop him off, not when I’m picking him up. But his excitement lead to my curiosity about why he thought this book was so good.
Because he’s read it a bunch with his teachers at daycare, he knew all the storyline plots, meanings, etc. - but I didn’t. So I proceed to read the gibberish language of a group of insects. And without spoiling it… it’s a story about the seasons of life, love, loss and growth.
It was so damn emotional because my son kept calling things out and explaining what happened. And at the end, the cycle/loop was completed and continued (Sorry for lightly spoiling it). This is when I realised what the book was about and that my son got it on a totally different level than me. And I started seeing something interesting and new about his feelings. I started seeing his emotional growth.
Run seasons.
Again, seasons but in the context of what we all love and why you subscribe to this newsletter.
I'm not just talking about "the marathon season" or "the off-season". I'm talking about actually blocking out a set amount of months to dedicate to something.
I'm in the middle of trying this new way of being as I plan my training and racing schedule for the year. I stepped back and realised I’ve now been chasing this 15:59 5k thing long enough. It's been fun but after five years, having a kid, fighting a pandemic (with a young kid at that!!) and building/running (no pun intended, ha) a business, etc. at the end of 2022, I was burning out.
The Solution.
(Vulnerable moment #2)
I’ve known the 5k was 80-90% aerobic and that you can develop your aerobic base well into your life. But I didn’t put together that I don’t have to rush to run this 15:59. It will come via aerobic building and race experience, it won’t happen, or I’ll enjoy getting super fit and healthy in the process.
Creating a seasonal approach to my training was something I dreamed about in 2022 rather than slogging along for 10-11 months scrapping and clawing at this mythical unicorn of a 15:59 5k.
So, I did just that at the end of 2022 going into 2023. I enjoyed my fitness and health and “took time off” from training.
And, to be honest - I just wanted to focus on running for a set amount of weeks (8-10) and then have the rest off. I didn’t want to really "take off" from training completely. My off is society’s “too much”.
It’s hard for me to sit still and not do anything physical. It feels weird… almost dirty. It’s not me. I hear that is what happens when the habit is embedded into your DNA.
For Nov-Jan I trained at about 70% of the volume (running, cycling, swimming, and strength) and didn’t do too much z4 speed work. As far as the “off-season” I was able to do exactly what I wanted.
Even now as I write this I’m deciding which races to sign up for, and it’s giving me a bit of anxiety to think about the race phase of the year as I’m about 10 weeks out. This time last year is when I started to burn out so it’s a bit of PTSD.
(/end Vulnerability moment - yes coders that’s not correct syntax… I know)
I’ve said this before (#7 of things I wish I knew), I race to train, not train to race. But, I know that after the race season, I’ll be happy I did all the work, ramped up my fitness (I love the ramp!) and I showed up consistently most days to earn my next “off-season” block (A short 2-3 week block that happens after my first race of the year)
The ebbs and flows of life are just like the book my super excited son wanted me to read, life is a series of seasons. What works in one season or one year may not work in the next.
Right now is when I would tie in some emotional “ah-ha” moment to everything but honestly, I don’t have it (CHAT GPT, where are you?!) I’ll just let this be and ask you 2 questions;
What season are you in right now?
What habits does that season require?
PS - Here is a bit of a fun paradox for you; can you get aerobic gains (usually known as training slow and easy) by doing sprint training (obviously fast work)?
The science is overwhelming. Check it out for yourself.
