Members of BDP running on Gailbraith Mtn. Photo Cred: Burke Hovde
Accountability is an immense benefit proffered from having teammates. It’s not just that I am accountable for putting in the work, which begins with self-motivation, it’s also that I’m accountable for my health and well being, for thinking large picture instead of momentary.
Last weekend I was set to take on the hardest workout of my training session, and I got sick. Even as I rolled between bathroom and bed the whole day, I felt that it would pass, that I would get better, and that I’d be ready for the workout the next morning. With visualization, I could see myself waking up feeling better, maybe a little empty, but capable. I could see the splits I needed passing on the watch, and finishing the workout. So when I texted my teammate about getting sick, I was thinking I was sharing a form of irony. Maybe I wanted to be coddled, or I wanted to feel strong, like if I could run hard efforts on such a low, I’d be that much more capable of handling anything small or large on race day. Maybe I was a little worried about what my immune system could be telling me, and I wanted to confer. Whatever I wanted when I texted her, I really thought I’d be ready for the workout the next day, no matter her response.
What I received was a good talking to. Which I should have expected. She knows me and she knows the runner’s brain. She laid out the details – about lack of electrolytes, how postponing the workout wouldn’t hurt, how health is more important than the workout, that it’s about the marathon not the workout, and how, if attempted, it might leave me waylaid longer than I would if I just took care of myself. I was frustrated. It wasn’t something I wanted to hear; I wanted to be cooed over, encouraged. I had to realize that this was the response I would always have received, and a part of me had known and needed to be held accountable.
I postponed the workout, which also means that my teammate did it alone. Afterwards, she offered advice on how to reap the best gains, and how to recover based on the experimentation of her own results and recovery. Without her, I am sure I would have attempted the workout. You know how sometimes when someone offers you an out, and you take it, you run the risk of removing yourself from the responsibility of choice, able to say, “Well so-and-so said…” Well – having a teammate you trust to take into consideration your own well being removes this little guilt game. Trust removes the game. Being held accountable removes the game. It is important to my teammates that I maintain my health, and if I forget or if it’s an afterthought, they’ll remember it’s important until I remember it is.
-Courtney, C.A.
Noble Chiropractic
119 Grand Ave
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 671-7067