Celebrate all victories - also the small ones!

You know the feeling. You have been putting in those 9-12 hours per week consistently, endured the tough intervals and skipped your children’s music school concert to do the long and slow runs. Rain or shine, you never miss a training. And then, after three months or so, you suddenly realize it. You are actually running faster and lasting longer. Your performance has risen to the next level, and you are ready to take your training there, too.

Not for me. One of the million reasons why I’m such a poor athlete is that I lack consistency.  I may start the build-up season with high hopes and noble goals, but it usually wears off pretty soon. Family obligations, lack of time, the weather is too cold or too warm, too wet or too dry, too windy or too still ... I usually find a reason to skip training. First it’s just one training, but then it is easier to skip the next one and the next one and the next ... When I finally find the motivation again, I’m back on square one, start from scratch.

When I did my first half-Ironman distance race, for once I managed to train consistently for 9 months. I had a great race but afterwards I was totally worn out – mentally. I couldn’t find the motivation to train for six weeks after the race and when I finally started again, I was back on square one.

My friend has challenged me to do my first full marathon next summer.  In order to have a decent race I would have to loose preferably some 30 lbs. And train consistently.  As I said, consistency is not my strong side when it comes to training. But yesterday I won a small victory. The weather was dreadful, temperature just above freezing, with heavy rain. You know, the kind of rain that is somehow much colder than snow. Usually I would find an excuse not to go out. Help the kids with their homework, help the wife with ... whatever. But none of them actually begged me to stay at home yesterday, so finally I forced myself to go out.  The freezing rain slapped me; my face and thighs immediately started burning with cold, but I kept on going. After a few minutes I came to a path that goes directly uphill. A mile and a half with 8-10° incline. I decided to really beat myself and run up the hill, with the wind and the rain in my face. At the top my George Michael three-day beard was all iced up, my thighs were practically frozen but I was immensely happy with myself.

Incredibly, I also had the wind in my face on the way back, but I made it home an awfully proud man. I know that one run of just 5 miles is, per se, not going to change a lot for my marathon next summer. But, this was a moral victory. I forced myself to train in conditions I would normally have found an excuse not to. I felt really good about myself and I’m convinced that next time it will be a wee bit easier to convince myself to go out and train. So this victory, as small as it was, may prove to be very important in keeping me on track with my training, keeping the momentum going.

There may be some truth in what I read somewhere: Always remember to celebrate all victories, also the ones that seem almost too small and unimportant to count as victories. They may be our most important ones.