Welcome to Wednesday Word, a weekly linkup for everyone, not just health and fitness bloggers. Each Wednesday you will have a single word prompt to write about.  Let your imagination run free and share with your readers your interpretation of that word, or simply use it as inspiration for your post. Today’s word is quality…..  I’d love to have you link up, and if you do, please remember to follow my six simple rules.

WednesdayWordQuality
 

Quality – how good or bad something is;
a characteristic or feature that someone or something has;
a high level of value or excellence
~ Merriam-Webster

 

Like most people I value quality over quantity, but there was a brief period of time when I didn’t adhere to that principle…

Shortly after running my first marathon and ultramarathon, I was offered a job as one of the coaches for the AIDS Marathon Training Program. By the time I met with my runners for the first time, I had completed an additional marathon bringing my total to three. Yet with a degree in physical education, a position as a fitness professional, and three successful races behind me, I felt that I wouldn’t be taken seriously without more marathon experience under my belt. 

I proceeded to run marathons with a fervent need to catch up, and that very next year I ran four marathons. I continued that trend for many more years, and even ran three marathons in four weeks, three different years.

In the process, though, I gave up something – I gave up quality training. I went from quality long runs, well planned out speed sessions, and following a proper rest schedule, to running just for the sake of running. My goal became running as many marathons as my busy life as a mom would allow, rather than training to do my best at each race. My times started slipping, but I didn’t mind. I was having a blast running with friends and collecting finisher medals.

RunAllMarathonsGetAllMedalsMeme
 

Had I chosen quality over quantity, my training plan would have been much more organized, more defined, and I would have followed that plan closely. I would have set a time goal for my race, worked hard to finish each training run in the time frame planned, and given my body the required rest and recovery time it needed to train at that level.

If I had it to do over again, what would I do? I’m not sure, but I do know that I have no regrets, and there’s not a single marathon that I regret running. At times, I question how I might have been able to preform had I dreamed big and trained smarter.

The one thing I do know is that I never burned out, and running marathons never seemed like a chore; so perhaps, in just this one example quantity over quality wasn’t so bad after all.

 

Do you feel that most of your workouts are quality workouts? 

 

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Deb Runs
 
 


Next Wednesday’s Word: Optimism