Eighty percent of success is showing up

The credit for the post title quote ('Eighty percent of success is showing up') goes to Woody Allen. It not only applies to life, but also (you guessed it) to running as well. If you extend the thought just a bit, you get the corollary to the thought of my previous post - Failure to Launch.

In other words, you do need to show up. But then you start running, and then, you have to keep running. Until you're done. Occasionally, preferably very occasionally, it's okay to allow yourself to fail. But based on another famous quote - this one from NASA - it's more often best to consider failure as not a valid option.

Today is a case in point. Although I've done a smattering of speedwork since just before Akron, it hasn't been very good. Certainly not like the thing I had going in late August and early September - often 10 x 800 (a Yasso workout) in the very low 3:40s. And that is very good for me these days. But I wasn't entirely feeling it this morning. Could I complete anything in this direction whatsoever?

Well, first I had to accept that I may not be able to Yasso through these 800s quite so fast. Second, I still wanted to get through them - all of them. And third, I wanted them to be consistent.  That's not asking for too much, is it?

The nice weather helped. I began by taking them one at a time. It also helps to not think very much about the entire elephant; just take the bites one by one. Guess what? It worked. I grew a bit more confident with each 800, and by the time I only had a few more to go, my completion assurance level, which started in the basement, was not at the top of the roof.

That said, the ten repeats were slightly slower than for those other workouts. This time the average 800 times was in the mid-3:40s. But I'll take them. Now, to do this a couple more times before my next thon.