On Progress, disappointments and moving forward

It's easy to think that progress is linear: charted neatly on a graph, steadily climbing upwards. But when it comes to running--or life for that matter--the journey is hardly ever predictable let alone linear. [Tweet ".@runfargirl talks about progress never being linear and moving forward after disappointment "]

I spent Sunday reflecting on Saturday's 5K, I fell pretty far short of my goal of breaking 19 minutes. Quite honestly, going into the race I knew it would be a big stretch despite the fact that I'd trained for that goal for most of the summer.

There's plenty of 5K's to choose from this time of year, but the Eliot Festival Day 5K fit neatly into our family's schedule and it's an established race that's been around for 24 years. The course is also relatively flat with a slight downhill into the finish. Race conditions were as perfect as you can get, temps in the mid 50's no wind to speak of. My legs felt light and fresh and I felt really ready to run.

I was surprised that there were no mile markers and I ran the race entirely by feel, and mostly alone with no feedback on my splits. I crossed the line in 19:56, 60 seconds later than what I'd trained for and 14 seconds slower than my 5K PR (on a much hillier course).

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[Tweet "Sometimes when we don't perform to our fitness level we find ways to explain it"]

Sometimes when we don't perform to our fitness level we find ways to make explain why we fell short: the course, the conditions. We want so badly for xx:xx time in training to equate to xx:xx time on race day and sometimes it doesn't. In this case it's because the fitness just isn't there anymore. Maybe it was back in June and July before our family moved three times and my training took a hit. But right now, it's just not there. And that's OK. Life happens. The foundation for that fitness is still there though and I know with structured training it can come back quickly.

My splits on the track have all been 4-6 seconds slower than what I was running back in June/July. A sign that the sharpness I had earlier in the summer is gone.

I would have loved to see my 5K time this year gradually get faster but they have bounced around some faster, some slower. But the amazing thing to me, when I look at the big picture, is that all my 5K's this year were under 20 minutes. Two years ago I was trying so hard to break 20, to just get into the 19's and I did it and now I'm at the point where all my 5K's are under 20 and I'm trying to break 19 minutes. And in two years, maybe all my 5K's will be under 19 minutes and I'll be trying to break 18.

My "season" is winding down and I'm looking forward to a bit of a break at the end of October/beginning of November. It'll be a chance to re-set, re-evaluate and start to set some new running goals.

--Sarah