Rogue Horses?

Running allows you more opportunity to evaluate how your past relates to your present. I was hanging with Steve at Office Hours last night and we started discussing my horse training and coaching with regards to my running. At some point I told Steve about my reputation of “fixing” bad horses, early on in my training career… “Oh, send that one to Julia Wolffe. She is good with rogues.” I found this rather funny seeing how things have turned out…I am still around a buncha rogues!! It is also kind of a weird poetic justice that my body has been a rogue of sorts in this last year or so.

Anyway, Steve asked me what I did with my rogue horses. Did I work them differently or did I have a tried and true methodology? So I told him. It came to light how similar this was to a runner working with his or her own body. Interesting… Basically, I followed a path that covered four main directives which had to be done in order:

ATTENTION – this one varied according to the needs of the individual horse. Some were peaceful and others quite violent…depending on just how ingrained the unacceptable behavior was.

(After the ATTENTION phase, the methodology was rather routine for all)

TRUST – develops communication, willingness, confidence, partnership

RESPECT – establishes direction, focus, leadership, a tone for the partnership

WORK – this is the meat and potatoes stuff that creates progress (which boosts confidence and focus) BUT is only possible after the first 3 directives are met. Work is about consistency and repetition (slog and grind) in your training. Work isn’t about instant gratification. It is about earning your way.

So…isn’t this funny how this so relates to our training of our own bodies to become runner athletes??

The idea of being present that Steve has talked about since the beginning of our training is generally the idea of getting the ATTENTION of your brain for your running. It is the ability to quiet all the “white noise” of both outside and internal demons so you can just focus on your body and your running. ATTENTION to the moment in your training.

Once you can do this then it truly is down to the other three directives. TRUST that you will learn this, that you can do this, and that this is what you want. Teaching your body to RESPECT your knowledge. Having your body RESPECT your brain’s decision to go farther or through the pain because experience tells you that you have done it or faith tells you that you can. And finally, just “walking the walk” and doing the WORK required to get the job done. It should be no surprise that to learn to run, one must run. Duh. All of us have to do the WORK to become the runner that is inside of us.

So on my way to the track tomorrow, I hope I remember to think of my responsibility to my training…attention, trust, respect established in the warm up and then…in the words of Steve Prefontaine, “To give anything less than your very best, is to sacrifice the gift.” So what is my responsibility to my training? Once my brain has told my body what needs to be done, I hope to do my best to follow that path and just put in the WORK.

This is how I plan to grow up to be a runner.