I have a small patch of wall in my flat that has a lot of Post-its on it. They’re all covered in numbers that might at first glance look like I’m trying to break some sort of enigma code, but which are in fact splits. They’re splits for marathons I’ve done, long runs leading up to them and key interval workouts along the way.
They’re in a spot that I see every day, and while I don’t look at very closely that often, they act as a reminder. They’re a reminder to myself that, if I’m going to be judging my training and fitness against any bunch of numbers, these are the numbers I should be using. Because these are my numbers, nobody else’s. And anybody else’s numbers should mean nothing to me.
It’s easy to get carried away by what other people are doing. People doing the same races as you and posting their training runs of Twitter or Facebook can make you question what you’re doing. I haven’t run, ridden or swum that far or that fast. Am I doing something wrong? Maybe I need to go faster or harder or longer. Try as I might not to fall into this mental trap, I still do it on occasion.
With running it’s easier to block other people’s training out. I’ve done enough marathons and had enough injuries now to know what works for me – how to stay fit and healthy and tread carefully that line between training well and having a life, or between putting in the mileage and being injured. Four runs a week is my absolute maximum, and mostly I stick to three. But there are days when I look at the mileage others are clocking up and think I’m not doing enough.
When I see a Garmin shot on Twitter or another blog, I try not to relate it to my own training. And while website like Daily Mile are great for keeping track of what you’ve done and encouraging friends, I’ve stayed off them over the past couple of years because it’s too easy to spend hours looking at your own numbers, looking at anyone else’s with more than the slightest of sideways glances is even more futile.
That’s why I have my Post-it notes. I know where they are if I need them, but they’re pretty useless to anyone else.
Way to go! I’m trying to bring my fitness back and really enjoying the process with bar method classes and trying to sign up for races.
XOX
I struggle with the same thing sometimes. I focus on my own training and have to remember that I run to “complete not compete”.
Karen @karenlovestorun
I love the post-its idea! It’s hard to stay motivated and feel accomplished when I see social media tweeting about how far they’ve ran today… even though I’m just restarting my marathon training and they’re already on week 10. I should stick these on my bathroom mirror to start every day off on a good vibe!
I know exactly what you mean but from a sewing point of view. I read so many great blogs where people are churning out the most amazing outfits at such a rate and last year I was like I must sew more. By the end of the year though I came to the conclusion I’m only in competition with myself and my output and creativity is my own thing and it can be inspired by others but is not determined by others. Funnily enough it’s actully running that’s giving me the confidence not to be defined or compared by those around me as the progressively getting better gives you a chance to look back and see how far you’ve come. I was out running the other morning and lady said oh I would love to do that and I said you can and then thought about when I saw people running down the seafront 3 years ago thinking oh gosh I wish that was me and now it is 🙂 Massive good luck with all your training.
This is totally reassuring – thanks! I struggle to run every day, body near niggles and get downbeat with others logging so many more miles. Thanks for an encouraging and sensible nudge!
[…] Besides we want to compare our results to other people’s result when we should really focus on what we can do, at our level and feel good about it. Laura from Lazy Girl Running wrote a good post about it here. […]