The Squite Workout
The idea of speeding up is less appealing to me than stretching runs into the far distance. Sometimes I look at the gathering of trees in the hills that I run to and recognize where I'd once stored thoughts of what had been ailing me and am reminded of how enormous nature is, capable of absorbing so much thought and still go far beyond it, when those same thoughts, when trapped inside my mind, become unwieldy. Once in the forest, they blend in and gradually disappear: replaced with an almost inert snail on the path, syrupy summer air, the call of fighting jays. They beckon the mind out of itself and into the intricacies of creatures, plants, wind, weather. A unity is achieved, a balance restored.
I occasionally speed up when I feel like it though, like to chase or pass the occasional other runner I encounter.
But this month, I got a new training partner. It was after the rain. I was slogging up the steep, barely-a-trail that cuts straight up through the more tangled trees to the top. I was trying to not to lose traction on the mud, when all of a sudden a dozen mosquitoes materialized around me. I wouldn't mind so much but I happen to know people who got sick from them last year. So I sprinted halfway up to where there is a more established path, a little more out of the dense forest, where I thought I would be a little safer to catch my breath. But the moment I stopped a black cloud of mosquitoes formed around me. I had never seen that before. So I bolted up the hill, gasping yet marvelling that I do know how to sprint, after all.
While that was the worst day, ever since, the mosquito numbers seem to ebb and flow, depending on what I don't know. This has meant I don't know what will meet me in the forest depths.
Today was a speedwork day. In fact, they were even out on the wider forest paths, leading to an 80-minute tempo workout. I realized as I was skidding back down the hill that pretty fast downhills are not impossible. But I was never able to reach that speed while focusing intently on the descent; speed came from not thinking about it.
You would expect that I would thank the mosquitoes. My running is improving because of them; I have even gained new muscle mass through improved uphill fitness. But I now feel a little traumatized and am using up all my Pak Fah Yeow to avoid accidentally scratching. Also, since my typical 26k runs are now workouts at least twice a week, the Mosquito Workout™ isn't sustainable.
But it is funny how something so small can completely change an experience. It reminds me of that old saying about how just a slight change in perspective can change everything.
I occasionally speed up when I feel like it though, like to chase or pass the occasional other runner I encounter.
But this month, I got a new training partner. It was after the rain. I was slogging up the steep, barely-a-trail that cuts straight up through the more tangled trees to the top. I was trying to not to lose traction on the mud, when all of a sudden a dozen mosquitoes materialized around me. I wouldn't mind so much but I happen to know people who got sick from them last year. So I sprinted halfway up to where there is a more established path, a little more out of the dense forest, where I thought I would be a little safer to catch my breath. But the moment I stopped a black cloud of mosquitoes formed around me. I had never seen that before. So I bolted up the hill, gasping yet marvelling that I do know how to sprint, after all.
While that was the worst day, ever since, the mosquito numbers seem to ebb and flow, depending on what I don't know. This has meant I don't know what will meet me in the forest depths.
Today was a speedwork day. In fact, they were even out on the wider forest paths, leading to an 80-minute tempo workout. I realized as I was skidding back down the hill that pretty fast downhills are not impossible. But I was never able to reach that speed while focusing intently on the descent; speed came from not thinking about it.
You would expect that I would thank the mosquitoes. My running is improving because of them; I have even gained new muscle mass through improved uphill fitness. But I now feel a little traumatized and am using up all my Pak Fah Yeow to avoid accidentally scratching. Also, since my typical 26k runs are now workouts at least twice a week, the Mosquito Workout™ isn't sustainable.
But it is funny how something so small can completely change an experience. It reminds me of that old saying about how just a slight change in perspective can change everything.
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| My new workout partners. |
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