Running with Buffman

Thanks to all who offered advice and kind words about my post, “what’s the freakin’ point“. I ran to the lake yesterday without the stopwatch, and it was a great run. Probably not a great pace, but I felt good about it 🙂

I actually strapped on my heart rate monitor and planned on putting tape over the time readout of the watch. I wanted to have the data to enter into my training log after the workout was done. As fate would have it, I walked out the door forgetting to put the watch on. Probably a good thing, because I would have been tempted to peek at the time once I got to the lake (1/2 way point). And the time probably would not have been what I wanted, and that would have dragged me down.

My plan was to run 3 miles to the lake and back at a moderate pace. It was only 75 degrees, so I just carried 20 ounces of water in my palm holder bottle. I dropped in a tablet of NUUN. I’m loving that stuff!

At about the 1.5 mile mark I passed a buff looking guy who was running along the same route. Did you hear that? I passed someone running! And it was a male! Ever since my last race, whenever I see a buff dude during a workout or a race, I call him Buffman. Tee Hee.

After passing Buffman, I felt peer pressure to run with good form, because I knew he was behind me, at least for a while. I was not trying to kill myself , or run fast, as this was not supposed to be a hard run. But I wanted to “run well”. I kept up this “running well” bit for a half mile, tempted to look back to see if Buffman was still there, but not wanting to look like a dork. So I didn’t look back.

About a half mile later, I turned a corner on Lakeshore Dr. I glanced over my shoulder, and sure enough, Buffman was not far behind me. I kept up my good running focus all the way to the lake, again not knowing if he was back there. At the lake, I turned around and started heading back home. I passed Buffman going the other way…I smiled and waved “hello”. When I made the turn at the end of Lakeshore, I noticed that he was gone.

I was still feeling strong and positive and thought I might stretch this 6 mile run to a 7 miler. I checked the water level in my bottle, and it was enough to last me, so I veered off course. The new route turned out to be very hilly. Perfect training grounds for the Duke Monster.

But wait, there’s more…

Seriously, there is more to this story. At the top of a hilly road called Kenmore Drive, another dude came running along from a side street on the left and pulled in right in front of me. This Buffman was running just a little bit faster than me. Okay, I thought, here’s an opportunity for me to try and keep up with someone running just a little bit faster. I followed this Buffman for about 0.75 miles. I struggled mentally trying to keep up. I’d start falling behind, then try to dig in deeper and work harder to catch back up. I noticed that doesn’t work. Working harder stresses me out, or makes my form degrade or something. Instead, I tried relaxing and focusing on the elements of good form: good posture, fast cadence, slight lean. That did work. I didn’t quite keep up with him, but I did really well. Eventually he turned off to run trails in the park, while I crossed the street to head home. I have to confess that I was kind of relieved.

I chose the hilliest path into my neighborhood. Again seeking hills to train for the Duke monster. I just tried to relax and enjoy the rest of the run home. I love running WITHOUT the stopwatch – so THANK YOU to all who recommended that idea.

When I do the Duke race this year, I do want to wear my stopwatch so I have HR data to compare with prior years. Plus I want to see my time for the swim and bike. But I think I will take the watch off at the first part of the run, and stuff it in my bra, and be disciplined not to look at it. I know if I leave it on my wrist, I will look at it. I want to just relax and enjoy that run and merely focus on “running well”. Who knows, maybe I will even do well on the run. Then maybe I will stop calling that race the Duke Monster.