I’m taking it easy at the moment. I did a 5 mile run on Saturday, just 6 days after the marathon, and ended up running too fast. My quads hurt for several days after that, and I took it as a sign to rest more. I played a 5-a-side soccer game last night, which turned into 4 vs. 5 after one of my team mates got injured – and the amount of running I did afterwards was probably not good for me either. I might run an easy 5 miler tomorrow morning just to get back into recovery running, but only if it’s not raining. There’s no point in pushing yourself too hard at this time of the year.
A few weeks ago my wife asked me why I was so competitive when it comes to running. I didn’t agree with that statement at all. When running at my level, you’re not trying to beat anyone else, you’re just running against yourself. She still insisted that this was competitive. I’m not denying that I can be competitive (as anyone who came up against me at soccer can testify), I just don’t agree that trying to beat your own best time in a long-distance run is competitive.
No matter what level of runner one is I think there is still some "competitiveness" in us all. It might be the desire to not be last or place in the top half of the pack or beat your last PR or maybe even your running buddy but it is still a little bit of competiveness. So sorry, I'm with your wife on that one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting my site. It's nice to discover new runners (to me not to the sport)to add to my list of reading.
ReplyDeleteCompetitiveness is healthy, it challenges every one of us to push ourselves and see what we are actually capable of, otherwise we would be couch potatoes with a bag of chips in hand.
On another note-rain in Ireland? You're kidding! *wink*
There's a fine line/a ton of overlap between competitiveness and ambition methinks. You think you're just the former but you're probably the latter too.
ReplyDeleteHI Thomas
ReplyDeleteGreat blog.
A delayed congratulations on the marathon. Breaking that 4-hour barrier is nice.
And I think I am competitive when I strive to improve my PR's.
I always considered myself as 'ambitious' as opposed to 'competitive'. But then again Yvonnne may be right about the overlap. At my age (46) I don't think too much about 'winning' anything, I would have to run most races about twice as fast. Hmmm, maybe next year ;-)
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