This article was originally posted on my Running Log Newsletter on Substack. You can also read it here.
This morning I ran about 22 km, for a weekly total of over 65kms across 6 runs. Louis joined me for the run. It was overcast and humid. Not ideal conditions for running but not too terrible either.
Today marks twelve weeks into this season’s structured training plan. I was in India mid-June to attend yet another friend’s marriage - 3rd of the year already. This trip disrupted the training plan for a couple of weeks so I have been catching up for the last month.
Just like the past summers, life centers around running. Almost everyday, I wrap up work and head out for an easy jog around the neighborhood. Most evenings in Berlin are incredibly beautiful with gentle sunlight falling on me as I loop the trails in the park. In a small section of the park, few people setup picnics where they grill, smoke up, and celebrate something or the other. Summer is a magical uplifting spirit manifested through all the smiling faces around me. Another reminder to run light.
At least a couple of mornings, I workout at the gym. Also, I squeeze in a weekly visit to a running track for interval training. Running fast provides a natural release in itself. So does lifting weights. Sunday mornings are reserved for long runs, and Saturday dinner for pasta almost exclusively. Between job and household chores, I read my books — running, physics, computer science, science fiction et. al. Late in the evenings, I write and edit while I eat dinner, mostly arranging my notes and thoughts. In short, I deliberately stay off the internet as much as possible.
Ideally, this routine repeats itself week after week, every year. The purpose of rigorous training is to build a reserve of mental, and emotional depth to borrow from during hardships. Any improvements in physical endurance are an add-on. Discomfort provides perspective to stay humble. Humility naturally builds a nurturing, healthy self-confidence. Regardless of my confidence, running a marathon will always stay a challenging, scary task for me. Hopefully, the ability to dig deep alleviates the undercurrent of fear within me. In a sense, this repetitive process gradually refines parts of my being that I can’t necessarily reason with, metrics that no smartwatch can measure. Anyways, that’s what I choose to believe.
As Haruki Murakami wrote, “I think certain types of processes don’t allow for any variation. If you have to be part of that process, all you can do is transform—or perhaps distort—yourself through that persistent repetition, and make that process a part of your own personality.”
Overall, I have not faithfully executed the training plan so far. Not that I can affect the past either way. Better to commit myself to the weeks ahead.