Real David H.

This past month and a half has brought about a tremendous amount of change in my personal life. With a new job and a quick move to Richmond, I’m all shook up.
While the move has gone well, there’s no question that it’s taken a toll on my running. I’ve hinted a lot about things going well one day, not so great another. The swings with how I feel have not been normal.

I’ve neglected revealing my thoughts too much, mainly because I haven’t felt like writing about it, but I’m realizing more and more that if I don’t open up about why things are the way they are, I’m going to have an awful time training for the Richmond Marathon. So here are some things that have been going on, and how I plan to fix them as I prepare to flip the calendar to a new month.

Why I dropped my coach
Let me start with a shocker. I found myself not wanting to follow Coach Caleb’s plans for one reason or another. Some days I felt like I was pushing myself when I wanted to take it easy; other days I was taking it easy when I had more to give. These feelings would often come in the middle of a run.

Simply put, structured training is not for me.

While I am grateful for the few months of guidance and expertise he gave me, it started to feel like homework. I had too much extra thinking about it outside my daily routine. I know from my previous experience of feeling like that, training becomes dreadful and the fun disappears.

Why I turned around and had a good run
The day after that happened, I went for a run — a little short on time — and started to feel pretty good close to a mile in. When I hit that in a little more than 9 minutes, I thought it would be a good day for a progressive run.

My mile times were: 9:21, 8:54, 8:35, and 8:16. Instead of feeling guilty about not getting in my prescribed run or continuously thinking about what I “had” to do, I felt great about squeezing in a high quality run.

Why I’ve gained weight
This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen with a move, but with the various days of packing things, driving back and forth a couple of hours a few times, and having the kitchen be a mess, I got sloppy with eating. Late-night pizza or a trip through the drive-through seemed easier.

Of course it’s my own fault, but once a couple of meals go bad, it just spirals out of control.

I’ve gained about 4 pounds in the move despite actually running more, but I’m making some changes quickly to get back on track. It’s started with cutting out soft drinks. I’m close to 2 weeks in on that and have no desire to return.

Except for a sweet tea or a frozen caffeine drink occasionally, soft drinks are done for a while. I gotta figure something out about cookies too.

Why I stopped the “other” things
I was doing so well up until the Cleveland Half Marathon. That race and back-to-back weekends to Ohio is when it started. Then the move. Then the feeling like I had to learn new things with my coach. Then I started eating bad. You see where this is going. The excuses stop now.

It’s time to get back to going push-ups, planks, sit-ups, and more a few times a week. With that, the extra weight will come off; I’ll be stronger; I’ll get faster; I’ll stop having posts like this.

Why I’m faster
I don’t know the real answer to that. I’ve run more miles this year than ever before; I’ve run more than 1,100 miles in the past 12 months.

My runs have had so much more quality to them, and despite feeling bad with all these other things lately, I continue to see marked improvements in my running times. I’m happy with this and if I put all these other pieces together, I won’t need to analyze myself again any time soon.

Why I need to find a race
I alluded to this the other day, but I haven’t lined up for a race since the Cleveland Half. It’s maddening to not know what kind of race shape I’m in. With my move and various weekend plans that have happened, I just haven’t had time to do one. That will change soon, I promise.

Why I remain confident
This isn’t a post to beat myself up. It’s a post that gives me that coming-out-of-my-shell feeling since I’ve been so quiet for a while. I’ve always been honest to myself. Looking in the mirror to figure out what’s wrong makes the path to making it right so much clearer.

The rest of this summer doesn’t have to be a struggle; in fact I’m really looking forward to beating down some walls in the next several weeks.

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