Ghosting a training plan and how to finally text it back - 24 weeks until the 100
Owl Ridge Trail in Bent Creek Experimental Forest
Do you remember 7th grade English when you learned about fallacies? Particularly the “slippery slope” one? I bet it’s the only one you remember. Don’t worry, I had to google it actually to ensure I was using it correctly. During my research I read that it is considered an “informal fallacy” and I laughed out loud because I remember learning that phrase almost two decades ago but it’s definition is 100% gone from my working knowledge. So, class, to review, slippery slope is an assumption that there is a direct link between a specific action and a series of subsequent events, often outrageous and dramatic ones.
Example: “If we allow same-sex marriage, then people will start marrying animals”.
That’s a fun one since it has personal revelance for me. The slippery slope I hit this week went as follows: If I miss almost a week of running then I’m a horrible person.
I was on week 3 of my 28 week 100 mile training plan and I was in a good place motivation wise and was looking forward to this weekend’s upcoming race, a six hour looped event out in Hendersonville, NC. But two things happened around the same time that sent me into a derailment:
My wife went out of town and apparently I just fall apart without her.
I got a tattoo on my inner bicep and heeded the tattoo artist’s advice of “try not to get it too sweaty” a little too seriously by not running for 6 days.
During this time, I’ll admit that I had a damn fun week. It was like the universe sensed that I was looking to let loose and sent me a full itinerary of hedonism. I ghosted my training plan hard, didn’t even send a text.
After the week long siege of good times, I could hear my body screaming to eat a damn carrot and drink some water. And you know how we have all witnessed that parent in the grocery store telling their kid “no, you can’t have that” and the kid progressively going through different variations of protests until they have a melt down. Well, my mental state felt like that parent and the kid simultaneously.
I felt guilty every morning that I woke up and instantly just knew that a run was not in my day’s plan. This guilt kind of snowballed during the week and it only fueled my “fuck it” mentality further. By the time my wife returned, I seriously felt like a wreck.
The turning point came from an embarrassing source…
The dentist.
I had an appointment at 9 in the morning and for some unknown reason, this grounded me. Sitting in that chair while a normal functioning 9 to 5 adult cleaned my teeth and feeling ever so slightly hungover from another evening of funzies, I finally got sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. The hygienist casually mentioned the following day’s weather was supposed to be beautiful so the next morning I forced myself to put my running shoes on and planned for a big run. I originally thought about doing a short one so it wouldn’t be such a shock to my system but I think I just wanted to prove to myself that I was still capable of churning out some big numbers for confidence sake. I also had given myself a goal of trying to hit 24 miles for the race coming up this weekend so I knew I needed to make up some ground.
Since I was still being a little grinch about the whole situation, once I realized that the weather was indeed, beautiful, I decided to try to bribe myself by choosing to hit up my favorite area, the Bent Creek Experimental Forest. And as crazy as this sounds, once I was parked and put my running vest on, I instantly knew I was going to be okay.
I skeptically headed towards Bent Creek Trail, curious if they had finally re-opened the connecting gate to the North Carolina Arboretum. The previous months’ runs had ended in caution tape and a locked gate due to the damage from Hurricane Helene.
Not to be dramatic, but it’s shocking how much seeing that open gate impacted my outlook on life. I was stoked to run on their trails again, excitedly taking the beautiful little creek paths they have and being thankful every step of the way. I pumped out a great 10 mile run with sub 11 minute miles and actually hit five PR segments!
Arboretum Connection From Bent Creek Trail
Since that run, I knocked out another 5 miler in the neighborhood where I saw a baby cow, which also made my day. And then to finish off the week, I completed a 10 miler slow and drizzly jog on the Mountains to Sea Trail yesterday. The amount of trail work that went into opening this back up was clearly evident every tenth of a mile. I was a bit slow on my pace but it was worth it as this was the furthest south I have been able to traverse since the storm. I flat out just enjoyed the run. All of it.
I guess this week has just reaffirmed my realization that I’m just not happy unless I’m getting a run in. Like those Snickers commercials, I literally turn into some sort of unrecognizable version of myself. Rebounding after any length of non-running time is always going to be difficult, but the outcome is so very much worth it.