Mary Eggers

Sometimes I just fall in love with this sport all over again. For the experiences it’s allowed me to live, for the people it’s afforded me to meet (my husband for example) for the health I am allowed to live with and …. well for everything. When I think about this the victories and finish lines become the last things I think about. Sure it’s fun to win. Sure it’s great to have a course record but if that was all I was about I think I’d be the saddest person on the face of this earth. Instead I feel like the wealthiest. Not in terms of money but in terms of life. This sport has not just given me a lifestyle…. it’s given me a world that I am more than grateful to live inn.

This week I lost the data on purpose and I got down to the business of training. Sure I recorded everything, I just chose not to live and die by it. Or even look at it. Instead I just wanted to feel it. I love when I do this because I nail my stats better than when I do look at them. I know my body better than any heart rate monitor does and I know my zones by feel. I am very proud of that ability.

It also brings me back to the why of it all. The why I even do this in the first place.

Because it makes me feel so gosh darn alive.

Some people are motivated by words written on their hands or scripts in their minds. I am motivated by feelings and music. Music brings out a feeling when I ride. On the computrainer as I approach Richer Pass (Ironman Canada) I play the same song every time. It’s an instrumental by the band Bond. It’s the 1812. Bond is a group of four violinists who have a more modern feel. Their work hits me and hits me deep and draws out of me something I can’t explain. It just brings something out in me that helps me fly when I need to fly.

And that’s what I go back to during a race.

for me it goes beyond power and pace and HR. I record those of course, but again I no longer look. I again have been able to tap into the feeling which brings me to my personal why and then it closes the loop for me.

It sounds complicated yet it’s simple. My zone 1 run (aerobic / endurance run) should feel a certain way. Like I can talk to someone during it, like I am in a comfortable place. My zone 2 run (tempo effort) should feel like I am going hard, yet if my nemesis pulled alongside me I could take them. Best sustainable efforts….. are balls to the wall efforts.

To me it’s really that simple. What the gadgets do are teach us to learn our bodies again. At some point we stopped trusting them. At some point we stopped believing them. Or perhaps we never learned them.

This week I have to be honest….. it was rough. We all have rough weeks. Hitting the roads for a run and just knowing where I was, looking at the moon, just breathing and moving. It’s the best medicine out there. There are studies that demonstrate that exercise is just as effective as antidepressants in lifting one’s spirits. In fact there are some great studies out there that demonstrate exercise is as effective as antidepressants in alleviating some cases of depression.

That is no secret and that is no coincidence. Move once a day….. is what I have always believed.

There isn’t anything I can go through that a swim, bike or run can’t bring me through. That is the truth.

There are many lessons to be learned on these roads. There are many ways to run 6 miles. You can do it looking at your watch. Or you can do it by looking up, appreciating the world around you and tuning in to what you already know.

That download can happen later. First…… enjoy the ride.

Filed under: My Training