The Wild Dog Blog

Tag: training

  • Suffering is Optional

    “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”

    Is it the ultramarathon that creates suffering or the mind?

    In the ultramarathon community, it’s a common preaching that athletes need to learn how to “love” or “embrace” the suffering. And while this isn’t completely off-base, the more ultramarathons I run the more I realize that what’s most important is choosing whether or not I’m going to label what I’m experiencing as “suffering” in the first place. 

    I can teach my mind to not suffer needlessly by being aware of the stories I’m creating around my experience. When I’m throwing up on the side of the trail I can choose to perceive that experience as neutral, something that just is, rather than labeling it as good or bad or writing a story about what it means for the rest of the day. When labels and stories are removed or carefully chosen, you’d be surprised at how quickly the “suffering” dissipates.  

    Ultramarathons themselves don’t create suffering. How I perceive what I experience during an ultramarathon is what creates suffering. 

    The question then changes from “What can I endure?” to “How will I choose to endure it?”

  • Be Like The Mollusk

    The mollusk’s life work is its shell.

    Layer by layer it builds its shell from the surrounding environment over the course of its lifetime. It doesn’t do so because of reward or recognition and it knows nothing of outcomes – it simply keeps showing up to build. For the mollusk, the act of showing up and building something is enough.

    When the mollusk dies, the shell is released and carried away by the sea. Sometimes the shell finds its way to shore where it gets picked up by human hands and cherished as something beautiful. But the mollusk didn’t build its shell with this outcome in mind. It was doing what it intuitively knew it had to do until it couldn’t anymore, and the shell became something beautiful to the world in its own time.

    How could you be more like the mollusk? Where in your life could you be more present with the showing up – the building, the crafting, and the creating?

    As you go about your week, notice how your concern with outcomes influences the quality and presence with which you work at the things that are important to you. When you let go of outcomes and allow the work itself to be the reason and the reward, you’ll no longer need validation to show up each day and give your best effort.

  • The Potential for Positive Impact is Everywhere

    I spent one summer during college working for a youth soccer company. My job as a coach was to show up at schools and parks and make soccer fun, exciting, and educational for young kids. But from the beginning, my bosses instilled in me that while the needs of the kids always took priority, what I had to offer was much wider reaching. 

    They taught me that from the second I arrived at a school or park to the second I left, I had the potential to positively impact anyone and everyone, not just the kids. Within the context of my role this included school administrators, teachers, security guards, park staff, receptionists, parents, and curious bystanders. Did my job technically require me to hold the door open for a teacher, or to thank a security guard, or to take interest in the lives of the parents? No. But I could never know what kind of a day someone was having, and little gestures of kindness could go a long way in making a positive impact. 

    We’re all taught from a young age to be respectful and polite. But it was empowering to learn that in engaging with the person in front of me, offering kindness, or showing interest in their life – I could potentially be playing a more meaningful role in their day than I would ever come to know. It’s a lesson that’s made my life more exciting, driven me to be more present, and is why you can almost always catch me striking up a conversation with the barista at Starbucks or with the check-out clerk at Trader Joe’s.

  • Are You Being Derailed or Redirected?

    It’s 2018 and I’m in the middle of the build-up to my first marathon. I’m putting in more miles than ever before and hoping to run a Boston Marathon qualifying time. But being new to marathon running, I don’t know how to ease into big miles properly and end up getting injured. A few weeks before the race I’m forced to pull my entry, feeling devastated that the injury completely derailed me from my goal. I spend the 3 weeks of healing time thinking (or stewing) about what would come next. 

    I eventually manage to get back to short runs pain free, but at that point I no longer have the fitness or time left in the season to chase a Boston qualifier. Feeling unmotivated and discouraged, I start scouring the Internet for something different that could get me excited to train again. I stumble across a 7 mile trail race in my area and think it sounds interesting and that it will give me a mental break from the monotony of road running. I sign up, not knowing what to expect, but excited to train for a race purely for fun and for an adventure. 

    The trail race is a blast and not only do I get hooked on trail running, but at the race I see other runners completing distances I hadn’t known were possible – ultra distances – 50K, 50 miles, and 100 miles. I think about what an amazing accomplishment it would be to finish an ultramarathon. One year later, I’m back at the same race to run the 50 mile distance – crossing the finish line in 15 hours and change. I’ve been running ultramarathons around the country ever since. 

    What I initially thought was derailing me back in 2018 when I came up injured a few weeks before my road marathon was actually redirecting me. Because of the injury, I discovered that fateful 7 mile trail race where I was introduced to ultrarunning and as a result led to a life full of travel and adventure. 

    What we think is derailing us is often redirecting us. When we remember how often a perceived “derailer” became a “redirector” in hindsight, we can face obstacles and challenges with faith in all that we do not know and maybe even with excitement about what we can discover if we have the courage to keep moving forward.