Welcome to my email newsletter 'Never not [thinking about] running' - a weekly newsletter about running and mental health. If you haven't subscribed yet and you're not sure whether you really want to receive an e-mail from me on every Tuesday, have a look at the archive. Todays newsletter is about finding the joy in running again. It’s not that there was no joy existent the last weeks, but pressure was high due to my high standards on myself. Besides that I made a little video, where I am talking about a new concept and about creating a running journal.
Doing the right thing?
To be honest, I was a bit scared of this week. The week before the UTMB race in Obernai. The race that I had canceled. Had I made the right decision? Would I have been able to go after all? Would I perhaps have been fit enough to run the thing after all? To cut a long story short. It was absolutely the right decision.
In the last newsletter I wrote how much I was looking forward to my first run after a two-week break and guys, it was a really bad run. Super exhausting, even though it was only seven kilometers. My heart rate was really high and it was absolutely no fun.
There's no way I could have run the UTMB on Sunday and although it was a really bad realization, it at least gave me a good feeling that I had done everything right by canceling. Period.
Still searching for some goals
As I still don't have any definite goals for the summer, the last few days have been all about getting my legs going and simply rediscovering the fun of running. It's not that the last few months haven't had some good moments, but I admit that the self-imposed pressure was pretty high. I wouldn't have done the 33K run before I got sick again without the big goal, but I had to collect kilometers. Whether that was smart. I don't know.
This week I then took a very relaxed approach. The second run was much more easy-going. For the third run, I actually went to the running club to run on the track. And that was probably the best decision of the week.
Connecting with other runners
The plan was to run a pyramid and then climb to the top one more time at the end. So 400m-600m-800m-1200m-800m-600m-400m-1200m with a 200m break between each interval. I joined the running group of a good old friend because I knew that he could run the lap like clockwork and wasn't too fast for the day.
The first 400 meters went well. I talked a lot. Maybe too much. The pace was easy to run. The 600 meters were harder. I was still talking too much. The legs were surprisingly good and gave me a false sense of security at first, but the rest was not up to speed at first. The 800 meters were then really hard and I had the feeling that nothing more was possible today, but surprisingly that still came.
The longer it went on, the easier the whole exercise became. After talking far too much at the start, I just hung in the slipstream and saved energy, which I was able to give back to the running group at the end because I was running in front. That was so much fun and I really missed it.
Just do what you feel like
At the weekend, I took it easy again and collected a few meters of altitude. That also went surprisingly well. In between there were always very relaxed runs in the recovery area over just 6K. After the initial setback at the start of the week, it was a rediscovery of running. It felt so good.
Video update
I want to try to implement a video more or less every week now. It’s kind of an add-on to the newsletter. You can watch it, but it’s not a must. There’s a more detailed explanation in the video. In the end I talked about an idea I had concerning running journals, maybe you want to have a look into it.
Inspiration came from
and - have a look at their Substacks.Mental health update
Went to therapy today and I had a very good feeling afterwards. It’s not that I had total breakthrough, but it felt like, I found a way to deal better with my fears. There are still doubts, but it’s all about trying.
Running update
Described it already above. It was a good week. A really good week.
The end
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Hey Marc, thanks for the kind words and the appreciation! This sounds like a real shitty situation you're in, I can hardly imagine how you're feeling and doing. For me writing about difficult situations helps me (not always!), to get things of my chest - it's no replacement for therapy, but a supplement. Helps to get your thoughts sorted out. Substack can be great for that, because you'll already have an audience here, because you commented here and there and people are maybe interested in getting to know you better. You're already in the Substack-ecosystem. If you have a wordpress-page you'll always need an extra place to promote your texts. All on the condition that you want to advertise your texts and would like to exchange ideas with others.
Hi Jens, really enjoyed your written post and your video and your concept to share your thoughts. I am also thinking about writing about running and other sports and giving updates about my mental and physical health regularly. Actually I am struggling with Long Covid and CFS since October 2023. I already created a word press page, but more and more also by reading your newsletter now format I think about if Substack is a better platform for my content. Please let me know your thoughts