Ahhh… the art of procrastination! I have been a procrastinator for as long as I can remember. The funny thing is, I am also a perfectionist. Think these two don’t belong together? Well, think again friends – they really go hand in hand!
Once upon a time when I was at one of the greatest schools in the land
I was struggling to think of a topic for a paper. Because I had waited until the last minute and because it had to be a research paper, I decided to write about procrastination. I was actually really surprised what I learned! Procrastinators are often perfectionists and perfectionists are often procrastinators. Since perfectionists despirately don’t want to fail by waiting until the last minute they have a built in excuse for why they didn’t do as well as they wanted to. I was kind of surprised by this although it also really reasonated with me. Failing scares me and I know I wait until the last minute so if I don’t do as well as I wanted then at least I can blame it on on lack of prep.
Now Meagan on the other hand DID! I wasn’t quite ready for this 1/2 marathon but attacked it like I was! What can I say? What I lack in training I make up for in GU and spirit! It still was an amazing experience but I can’t help but think, if I had trained more I would have done better. Yet, what if I had trained longer? Harder? And still didn’t do as well as I wanted to? Yikes! That would be tough to swallow!
Here is what I have learned about running (most sports I assume)… you can’t fake it. Either you have put in the training or you haven’t. It isn’t like procrastinating a project or presentation where you can get by waiting until the last minute. Your body can only be pushed so hard before it just can’t do any more. Sometimes I find this frustrating. Since I live by a procrastinator’s code, we don’t start things early. We thrive on the adreneline of a deadline, we believe we have more time than we actually do and we ALWAYS believe we can get it done. So why in the heeell did I take up distance running?!
This was a 10 miler race that was a week after the aforementioned 1/2 marathon. In my mind, I was like, “of course I can run 10 miles – I ran 13 the weekend before!” I was right, of course I could. But I didn’t run at all that week… brilliant I know. Once again, the question should be asked, why have I taken on distance running? The answer? I like it! I am NOT built for speed!
What’s my point? Well, yesterday as I was running I realized I had gotten myself in the same type of pickle as I did in the fall. I have a 25k in three weeks and I am not trained enough. Oh, I’ll be able to pull it off but it won’t be pretty. The thing is last night I ran 5.5 miles and the longer I ran the faster and better I felt. Today I am shooting for 9 which completely goes against the whole 10% rule. I know I am not immune to injuries. While I do a better job at stretching than ever before, have changed my stride and use a foam roller this isn’t going to magically keep injuries at bay when I push my body past it’s limits.
At the same time, I need to balance this with my silly mind that tells me I can’t run these crazy distances. When I was running yesterday, my legs were like, “yay! we love being set free on the pavement!” I know in the next three weeks I’ll fit in a bunch of training in order to prep both my body and my mind. Like I said, I’ll get the 25k done but I’ll always wonder if I could have done better.
But there will be other races. The Ragnar in June, another 1/2 in July (in front of my family!) and hopefully a full in the fall. I really want to break this cycle of last minute training and RACE these races! I don’t want to let my teammates down in the Ragnar. I want to show my family what I am capable of and hit a sub-2 hour 1/2 mari! I would also like to hit a 4:15-4:30 full marathon. This means (eeeekkkkk!!!) starting early!
So, sorry procrastination… I have to break up with you. We are done. Splitsville. I’ve got some races to race!
Amy's Recipe for Disaster 
Stopping by as a fellow SPA, and a fellow runner…oh and yeah, a fellow perfectionist/procrastinator too! Enjoy your training for this race season :)
I share the tendency towards procrastination…and perfectionism…but am trying to leave them behind too. Good luck with the procrastination break up :) And enjoy your training when you can do it on your own terms!
I procrastinate soo bad, mainly with school work. I always found that waiting until the last minute to write a paper produced my best work. Weird I know.
Breaking up with procrastination is a hard thing to do!! Good luck :)