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Racing vs. Running – I Was Shoved

  By Ann Brennan | May 16, 2013 - 3:26 am | , ,
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Written by Ann Brennan

Originally published in June 2011, republished because it was on my mind during a run today. I often need reminders of just what it takes to meet the goals I have set for myself.

On Friday afternoon, Coach Jeff emailed me and asked if we could talk about Sunday’s 10k. I rolled my eyes, hung my head, and thought two things, “What could he possibly have to say about this race.” Jeff and Blaise (my fast husband) confer by phone before races. They talk splits and strategy.

But Jeff seldom asks me to talk. He is the ultimate “man of few words.” So, when he asks to talk, there must be a reason.

Unfortunately, because Jeff is a man of so few words he always gets straight to the point and on Friday the point was a little unpleasant.

“Ann,” he said with only the slightest pause, “you are the great underachiever.”

He went on to say that he does not think I try in races, that I am afraid of failing so I don’t give it my all, that I am capable of more than I give.

I wanted to argue with him, but I couldn’t. I knew he was right. I have written here about the mental games I have played with myself for various reasons over the past couple of years but when it comes down to it, Jeff is right.

While I tell people that they probably can run faster than they believe is possible, I do not practice what I preach. I have stopped racing as fast as I know that I can.

Three years ago I was racing. In every race I was giving it my all and I discovered that I really could run faster than I had given myself credit for. That year I set PRs in every race I ran. Then injury and illness struck over and over again and I began to revert back to my old way of thinking. I stopped trying.

So, on Friday afternoon as I sat on the front porch listening to Jeff call me the great underachiever I could not argue. I knew he was right.

“I want you to race. Push yourself on Sunday,” he told me, “I want you to run a 9 minute pace.”

Calculating that out, it meant I had to run the race in 55:55.

Just minutes before I called Jeff I had been content with the idea that I would come in in under an hour. I would have been happy with that. Instead, I was now looking at knocking over 4 minutes off that time and I was looking at doing it the morning after my in-laws 50th Wedding Anniversary party. But I didn’t argue. I couldn’t argue, because this was (excuse my language here but it is the only term I can think of at the moment) “shit or get off the pot” time.

Suddenly that is exactly what it felt like. Here I am working with not one but two coaches. With Jeff coaching my running, swimming and biking and Dan at helping me with my strength, mobility and flexibility it does seem like the time to either race or give up on it all together.

So, I raced. Using the dynamic warm up I had just learned last week with Dan, the plan that Jeff had laid out for me Friday afternoon and my husband who was prepared to help me push through the last mile, I raced my 10k.

I should say I did not race gracefully. I did not race smart. But I raced. I took off too fast and suffered for it later in the race, but I raced the entire time. I didn’t slack off. I stayed focused and I raced.

The truth is that Jeff had pissed me off a little bit and that 55:55 no longer seemed like a challenge. Instead it seemed like an insult. Of course I could run 55:55. Of course I could run better than a 9 minute pace.

I had been fine with the idea of running a 60 minute 10k before Jeff called me the great underachiever but that 55:55 lit a fire and there was no way I was going to be satisfied with that time now.

So, Sunday morning as I raced the Dawson’s Father’s Day 10k, I pushed and I ran. I gave it my all, coming across the finish line two minutes faster than Jeff had suggested, in 53:54.

Looking back on that phone call I have a couple of questions. First I wonder how Jeff felt before the words left his mouth. I am not the easiest person to talk to. Truth be told, I am pretty controlling. I like to be in charge and seldom give up control easily. And while I am guessing it is difficult to approach anybody with a statement like “you are the great underachiever,” I would think it might be even harder to approach me.

Second, I wonder whether he knew. Did he know that I needed to be pushed and underestimated? Did he know that I needed to be shoved rather than guided?

How Do You Eat an Elephant? – Motivation To Move Forward

  By Ann Brennan | April 30, 2013 - 4:09 am |
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Written by Ann Brennan

I wrote this post back in July of 2012 because I was struggling with the motivation to move forward in my Ironman training. It was a personal post but over the past year it has been viewed by thousands of runners and triathletes and I have received dozens of emails telling me that this has become their motivation, their mantra. As I begin my journey to becoming a Boston Qualifying Marathoner, I have come back to it, to remind me that I can do this, one bite at a time.

I don’t wanna.  I am tired and I just want to go back to sleep.  I am tired and I just want to sit on the couch with my book. I am just too tired.  Oh and did I mention hungry? I am so hungry. Twenty-four hours a day I am hungry, starving really.

 

So to sum it up…I am tired and hungry and I don’t wanna go run/bike/swim/lift. Besides, there is laundry to do, kids to feed, a house to clean and letters to write to my son, not to mention work.  Don’t you think I should just skip this workout?

 

This has been my train of thought every morning for the past two weeks.  With twelve weeks to go to my first Ironman, Coach Jeff has begun to ramp up the mileage.  Suddenly I find myself with two workouts a day several times a week.  When I am not working out I am either sleeping or eating when I should be taking care of work or home obligations.  Ironman training is not easy.  But I guess I didn’t expect it would be.

 

So, how have I managed to get out each day?  How have I dragged my sorry butt out of bed, plopped it on a bike and gotten on my way? How have I pushed through workouts I have had no desire to do?

 

Well it certainly has not been because of my physical prowess.  That much I am sure of.  For the most part it has been through a series of mental tricks.

 

Before Blaise left for Beast Barracks at West Point this summer he asked an older cadet for his best tips on getting through the six weeks.  His friend told him, you get through it the same way you eat an elephant – one bite at a time.

 

That’s the approach I have been taking to Ironman training.  I don’t have 10 workouts this week. I don’t even have two workouts tomorrow morning. I have one workout tomorrow morning and all I have to do is get through that one.

 

Yes, I know that there is another one waiting for me when I get home from that one but all I am worried about when I start out each day is that one bite – the first workout.  Then I can think about the next bite.

 

In the past the first bite has been getting out of bed.  But this summer getting out of bed has been the easy part.  Although I am not a morning person and hate the idea of getting out of my comfy bed, I am able to pull myself out each morning by reminding myself of my West Point son and the fact that he has no choice.  He hears the calls of his commanding officer and he has to get up no matter how tired he is.  So who am I to lie there basking in the comfort of a bed when there is work to be done?

 

But still, the minute my feet hit the floor I begin the whining.  I start in on the “I don’t wannas.”  And I have to remember to concentrate on that one bite, that one workout and sometimes just that one set.

 

This week there have been swim workouts that I literally got through by promising myself that all I had to do was that one 800 yard warm up, then I could go home.  Then changing it to the next set and the next set.

 

Ironman training is hard but the next workout isn’t.  If I can get through that one workout, take that single bite, I can get to the next one and by the time I get to October 20th, that elephant will be all gone.

I Am Not Afraid

  By Ann Brennan | January 30, 2013 - 6:15 am | ,
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I am reposting this story today after reading about the teacher in Montana who disappeared on a trail run almost one year ago this week. I am reposting it because I want runners, not just women, to understand that we are not powerless. Yes, running alone can be dangerous and bad things can happen if we drop our guard when out on the trails, but that doesn’t mean we should give up something that brings us such joy. So, I am posting this and asking you to read it, pass it on and keep on running. But I would be irresponsible if I didn’t tell you to take precautions. Let people know where you are going to be. Pick paths that are less secluded. And most importantly trust your gut. If you head down a path and get that little nagging in your belly that says, “Turn around,” do it. There will be other runs and maybe you will feel a little silly for a little while but it is better to feel silly now than to berate yourself later with, “I knew I should haven’t been there. I had a feeling that that was the wrong path today.” Be careful out there but don’t give up the joy. Don’t let anybody take your run from you.

I am a trail runner.  Before I even knew there was a name for it, I was a trail runner.  The first time I can remember running on a trail I was eight years old.  My family had moved out of the city into a trailer park in the country.  Other kids would roller skate or ride their bikes around the circle of trailers that was our neighborhood.  But not me.  Circles were not for me.  The minute I saw the trail leading between two trailers into the woods and heard that it lead to an abandoned railroad track and had trails leading off of it into the woods I abandoned my bike and headed into the woods.  I remember the other kids warning me about the Maco Ghost and the hermit who lived in the woods.  But I wasn’t scared.  Somehow I knew I belonged there, running on those trails.  I went every chance I was given.  I tried to talk my friends into joining me.  I found new trails with every run.  Some were clear others were not.  I would come home pouring sweat, legs covered in blood from the blackberry brambles but I didn’t care.  I had found a home.  A place I belonged.

Today, thirty two years later, I still love the trails.  I can’t resist them.  I hunt them out.  I am a trail runner even though the warnings are still there.

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“Don’t you worry about being attacked?”

“Didn’t you see the sign about copperheads?”

“What if you fall and break a leg?”

I laugh and explain that no, I am not afraid.  I have a better chance of wrecking my car on the way to the trail than being hurt on them.

As I have gotten older I have learned to take more precautions. I always carry a cell phone.  I go at times when I know a trail is going to be most populated and I let my husband know where I am going to be.  But I am not scared.

In a strange way I think this fearlessness was a gift from my mother.  Way back then, when I first became a trail runner I was scared.  Not of the hermit who lived in the woods or the ghost we all claimed to have seen but of my mother.  I was scared every moment of every day, until the day I found those trails.  On those trails I found a peace I had never known.  I ran into those woods to escape a life of fear.  I was running away but I was also running to something.  I was running to the athlete I would become.  I was running to the beauty life has to offer.  I was running to a world of comfort I didn’t have at home.

I run on the trails now for different reasons.  I run to let go of the stress of parenthood or to feel my body responding to the ups and downs of the ground.  I run to feel my heart beating faster and the burn in my legs.  Often, I run just to see what is down a particular trail.  Will there be a stream, or a railroad track or a dilapidated house beside a manmade pond?  But I never run without a sense of gratitude for the trail and where it has lead me or the gifts of peace it has given me.  I am a trail runner and I am not afraid.  I am a trail runner and I always will be.

Previously published in Trail Runner Magazine’s eNewsletter, Inside Dirt May 2009

The Truth About Weight Loss

  By Ann Brennan | January 11, 2013 - 7:38 am | , , , , , , , , ,
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When I first starting running marathons I gave people a whole plethora of answers as to why I was doing it, but the truth was I thought marathoning would make me look like Jennifer Anniston. Apparently that is not the case. Today I share what I have learned about weight loss and managing your weight even as a runner.

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The Importance of Form

  By Ann Brennan | January 9, 2013 - 7:56 am | , , , , , , ,
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When I first started running I thought it was all about putting one foot in front of the other and even though I read a lot about the sport, there were some things I thought were just for the more advanced athlete. Form was one of those subjects. Now I wonder how much better my running would have been, how much fewer injuries I might have had, if I had focused on form in the very beginning. Coach Jeff Kline from PRSFit has created this series of videos for his upcoming PRSFit Pro Program but has agreed to share a handful of them with me and my readers. I love today’s video, an introduction of sorts to the importance of form. I use a lot of these tips when running but “light, fast feet” has become an absolutely mainstay for each and every run.

PRS FIT Pro :: The importance of running form from PRS FIT :: Endurance Coaching on Vimeo.

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One More Reason to Workout Even When You Don’t Want To

  By Ann Brennan | January 3, 2013 - 3:13 pm | , , , , , , ,
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Leading Our Families to Fitness

  By Ann Brennan | January 1, 2013 - 9:35 am | , , , , , , , ,
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There is an interesting thing that happens when fitness becomes a priority in our lives. We suddenly want to share this new discovery with everybody. Unfortunately, not everyone will be willing to take the leap into fitness and we will may find ourselves pushing. Fortunately, there is something else that happens when we find fitness. A little known benefit. We become leaders. We, as runners, without even trying, lead our families and friends towards a life of fitness.


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Best Day of the Year

  By Ann Brennan | December 31, 2012 - 8:53 am | , , , , , , ,
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When 2012 started I had one goal. Cross the finish line of the Beach to Battleship Ironman Triathlon. I had dreamed for years about completing an Ironman but after a DNF in 2004 I was scared. Actually, saying I was scared is an understatement. Throughout the year I kept trying to get the fear under control, moving forward and hoping that I could actually make it through the day.

A few days before the race, I wrote a post about visualizing the race. I went step by step through what I hoped my day would be, but even so I kept coming back to the fear. And then race day arrived and the fear was gone. I don’t mean pushed down so I could ignore it, but completely gone.

In its place was a peace I cannot begin to describe. I was right inside my visualization. Everything I had planned, everything I had wished for happened. You could almost lie the visualization post and the race report on top of each other, one being so close to the other. Every photo from that day shows me with the biggest smile. From beginning to end I was having the day of my life.

But the best moment, was that moment as I was coming out of the run transition when I looked up at my husband and yelled “Best Day Ever.” That was the moment that I knew it was true. That was the moment I knew I was living up to the plan and enjoying every minute of the day.

This video, at about 4 seconds, shows that exact moment. Yep, that’s me shouting “Best Day Ever.”


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There is only one first time. Beach to Battleship was my first Ironman and I wanted it to be a day to remember. It was. In every way, it was a perfect day.

The Ebb and Flow of Motivation – Marathon Week Five

  By Ann Brennan | December 28, 2012 - 6:38 am | , , , , , , , ,
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Training for a Spring marathon is so hard. As it gets colder and nastier outside it is easy to lose motivation. But keep moving forward and eventually the motivation will return.

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Best Gift Ever For a Runner

  By Ann Brennan | December 27, 2012 - 6:10 am | , , , , , , , ,
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Runners’ children are different. They can calculate pace before most kids can do basic addition. They know what to eat before, during and after a race. They scoff at people who ask “how far is a marathon again?” And they know that the best gift for Daddy this Christmas is a bubble wrapped suit so he makes it to the starting line at Boston uninjured.

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