Like in life, patience is a virtue in the sport of distance running. Even after 9 years in the sport I'm still learning that as every mile passes. Whether you are consistently building the pace each mile on a run or amplifying the intensity of your training, teaching yourself to stay patience is essential, but hard to do.
My past two years have taught me to do that, but every once in a while I get a little excited and jump the pace. This season, our coach decided that several of my teammates and myself would increase our mileage from 45-50 miles per week to 55-60. 60 is an intimidating number. But, I attribute my success as an NCC runner to trusting my coaches. I believe that they know what they're doing and that they're doing it for a reason.
However, with this being a switch from our typical training plans, we all got a little anxious and sort of questioned our coaches. You would think that we would never ask to do a speed workout on the track (as they are very challenging) but that is exactly what we did. Mahesh (head coach) responded with something similar to what he typically tells us during repeats, "CONTROL." His response to our request made me a little skeptical, but it made me realize that there would be plenty of track workouts in the future, and that they would begin when the right time came. At that point, I knew I needed to fully trust him. That's exactly what I plan on doing, and I'm confident that we will all see results.
This past week has reminded that it is important to stay patient. Whether it is in running, school or life in general. Goals are worth pursuing relentlessly, but sometimes you have to just have to relax through the process and trust that the time to achieve your goals will come when it comes.