It’s not tacos, it’s still a good thing, it’s a tempo run!
Tuesday saw the Monta Vista XC team get in a good tempo run. We use a route we use several times a season, both because it’s a good route (manageable grades, some shade, relatively light traffic and few road crossings) and because we can compare our times from prior workouts.
A good number of our athletes recorded improvements from prior runs, and a number of runners had a three tempo runs of continuous improvement: Vidya, Upasana, Aditi, Emily, Rachel, Sylvana, Ananya, Nikhita, Serena, Andrew C, Steve, Nitin K, Ethan, Tyler, Pranav, Nitin S, Andy X, Brian and Patrick.
We don’t always come to practice–any kind of practice–feeling our best. This applies to any kind of practice–not only athletic, academic or artistic practice also–some days we show up feeling like we can conquer the world and other days, the start practice can seem like a chore. Digging in and doing our best every day, embracing our joy on your good days and making the best of the days we feel a bit off, is a real sign of the grittiest, highest performing people. And sometimes we dig in and find we have more to give than we thought. I know that this was true for me on Tuesday morning…I started a run with my run group and it was cold, I didn’t feel great and my training partner for this marathon cycle was injured and not there. I was feeling pretty off and thinking I’d just get the miles in without much pace. But four miles in I realized that my pace was sub-8 (not bad for me!) and I decided to put in the effort to chase down the leaders. I ended up with five miles where I got progressively faster, from 7:40 getting down to the fifth mile at 7:05. Not bad for your old coach! I give all the credit to my running partners for pulling me along, and also I feel like my mind was open to trying for a better workout than my emotions and body wanted to give me.
Looking at that list of MVXC runners that have had three consecutive tempo-pace improvements, I feel like most of you are feeling this message. When you are feeling great, roll with that feeling! When you start out feeling more average or down, open your mind and try to figure out how to make the best of the day–both in terms of running, and in terms of your spirit.
Have a great day, team! Keep up the great work.