When I first got in touch with the Team in Training folks, I asked about the time commitment. It’s not that I’m not interested in doing the training, it’s just that I don’t necessarily have a set time on an evening or weekend that consistently works for me. After all, it’s one thing to get up before dawn and run while your family is still asleep, and entirely another to ditch them for half a day on a weekend to run with the group. Not to worry, I was told. The training schedules and coached runs are there to help you, a resource for you to take advantage of if you choose.
Tonight’s TNT meeting seemed to imply something different. Oh sure, if I have to miss next Saturday’s run in Berkeley because of business travel, that’s fine. Just be sure to let my mentor or coach know that I won’t be there. And there’s the issue: I assumed that workouts would be more opt-in as desired, rather than opt-out. I don’t know why, but there’s a big psychological difference between the two, and I’m already feeling like a slacker for suggesting that I’m less than 100% committed to the team activities.
That’s the intimidating, worrisome side, but there were some good parts, too. My mentor, Olivia, seems fantastic (and is as tall as I am). The training calendar is spectacular. I’m trying to figure out if I can shuffle days without ruining the flow. They have Wednesday as the cross-training day, but my kickboxing classes are Tuesday/Thursday. Also, their Saturday features big coached runs with Sunday non-running activities, like pilates, which is the exact opposite of my weekend routine. I have to figure out what to do about that. Fridays are mandatory rest days; I’m considering ignoring that for tomorrow and picking up the schedule on Monday.
Interestingly, they encourage at least 10 minutes of barefoot running per session. That wouldn’t exactly work for me on the rocky trails that I prefer to run, but then again I run in a fairly bare-bones sneaker anyway, as close to nothing as I can get.
Today’s Workout:
60 minutes of kickboxing, featuring more kicking than usual. I’ll bet that’s going to hurt in the morning.
Fundraising Efforts: $640 and counting.
Can’t help but recall my own time conflicts when I engaged trainers, ages ago. Even though I worked out daily, sometimes twice daily, practically 7 days a week (yes, I was single) on my own, when I had specific training appointments, it agitated me to no end that I had to be at the gym at a specific day and exact hour. In fact, I rescheduled or cancelled more than I should have (and probably showed up at the gym later that day to work out on my own).