From the Winter Cocoon comes the Spring Rebirth

By: Abdul Rauf, Charm City Run Race Team Member

“This has been my hardest training cycle in a long time because of this winter”. That sentiment and the equivalent of it have been said by everyone in my running group and by as many running friends as I have. Not everyone has had to deal with this unprecedented winter, which at times has felt like permafrost, but everyone has shared how difficult this winter training session has been. The complaints about not wanting to run in the freezing cold last year have turned into complaints about the lack of safe roads to run on at all!

Naturally, one has to wonder, was it worth it at all? Did I even gain anything out of this time? The easy answer, of course, is just to say, miles are miles, and you are always progressing ahead. That being said, past the valid advice and general sentiment, there is something incredibly strong that will leave an everlasting impression on you past this winter season.

Just Survive

As runners, we are often hyper-focused on gaining and moving forward, and, all too often, we get so used to punishing our bodies that we don’t realize the silent toll that has been mounting. That punishment is not for naught, though, at the penultimate moments of your marathon or whatever race you are doing, it’s the miles in the snow, the miles running against the wind, the multiple layers to just run outside, and the avoiding black ice. Those are the miles that build a level of survival in you that just miles alone cannot achieve on their own. As simple as it sounds, just getting through this winter is the real goal. Sure, it may not immediately inspire confidence in you, but the effects are a slow drip, and the gains are very much permanent, just like muscle memory for your legs; this is muscle memory for your mind.

You can lead a man to water

The next part of this battle, spoiler alert, it is not over yet despite the warmer temperatures, is to take the mental resilience and to blossom into a new runner. You may not have gotten the time gains or mileage covered that you wanted, really who has?, but to be able to take the lessons from war, you need a bit of introspection at a different level.

Instead of “did I get faster?”, the question will be “how do I need to adjust in extreme temperatures?”

Instead of “did I cover as many miles as I wanted”, the question will be “of the miles I did cover, how many were quality miles.”

Instead of “what could I have done better,” the question will be “did I listen to my body when I should have?”

Running is not a zero-sum game, and some people will experience inconsistent gains, injuries, or other issues that hamper their ability to reach their maximum potential. That being said, the margin of error becomes much larger in a harsh winter reminiscent of The Shining. In a sports comparison, essentially, the floor rises while the ceiling falls. The key here is to take whatever you can from this challenging time and to make sure you understand what went right, what went wrong, but also be appreciative of your body and mind’s cooperation and the fact that you made it.

Will cocoon hatch by Spring or not?

Now, as we descend into the spring months, it’s time to reset our mental clocks and ramp up. The foolish thing would be to ramp up too quickly, but ultimately, the miles will increase, the heat will cause weather issues in a different way, and you will still have many of the same moments you had during this marathon training cycle. That being said, the lonely miles in the snow will give you Takat, a Punjabi word for strength, to be able to bear everything and more.

By no stretch of the imagination was this winter a fun time, but as mentioned above, you may look back on this time later and be grateful for how it tested you and improved your running in ways you could not have imagined. The gains are not always related to running metrics either. Your planning got better; your grasp of what your body is capable of improved; and you learned when to increase or decrease mileage, how to push through the tough miles in the morning or at night, and how to deal with inclement weather.

We can go on for a long while. I will just say that I am so incredibly proud of you. We got through this rough winter together, and although we may finish at different races, the hard work was done together.

It’s time for the cocoon to hatch.