Head down. Knees up. Execute well. In that order.

How I am finding success in my off season.

In my last blog post, I shared some of my non-running related goals that I have been focused on post-Chicago Marathon. To be honest, that focus has been working well for me. I got in two hours of studying for my Marathon Running Coach Certification exam before setting in to start my blog post for this evening.

Even in the midst of diverting some of the attention away from running, being successful at what I do is always the goal. Running is such a big passion of mine. I realized that even during this time of enjoying my off season, my running has benefitted from not being under the pressures of race distance training.

Since I have returned home from Chicago and recovered from my race, one of my main focus points was getting stronger and gaining the muscle that my trainer has been anxiously awaiting to see since I started his program. The increased intensity in my strength training has not been the easiest transition. But I suck it up because I figured that now was the best time to really bring the hammer down.

As I began to get stronger and more focused, an amazing thing happened. My speed and endurance took off. I found myself mentally stronger and pushing myself harder during group training sessions. My hard runs felt easier. During my off season time, I ran my personal best 5k twice, my personal best 10k and second fastest half marathon time (without training)

I watched my group members become the beneficiaries of my newfound results as they secured their own personal bests by keeping me in their line of sight during training.

I asked my trainer how could this be as I am not actively race training at this time? My focus over the last month has been preparing my group for the 10k and half marathon distances. He attributed the results to simply gaining strength.

Me? I love to use running as metaphors in life lessons. As the saying goes “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” Well I applied that same principle to running. When training for races, I become so super focused on dates and data. Everything has to be calculated and planned. Taking away the pressures of racing and just running has allowed me the freedom to push harder. I have room to run faster and stronger without the consequence of the next race in the back of my mind. I have a platform to go at those short term goals that were placed on the back burner. I am in the moment with my running.

Have you found yourself in a groove during your off season? Share with us in the comments section.

Linda