Continuing my previous post on "heart" and "head" runners, one of the great pleasures of being a part of the ultra scene these days is watching 24-year-old Kilian Jornet of Spain do his thing. Over the past few years, Kilian, who anchors the Salomon Running team, has accomplished some incredible feats, such as resounding wins at Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, the Western States 100 and many European mountain races. But with Kilian, the incredible goes way beyond his resume and even his freakish talent. The way he runs can be described, at least in my own mind, in the following ways: beautiful, like a child full of excitement, passionate, with his heart.
Watching Kilian run is like watching my son, Noah, or my nephew, Alex, run. They run with passion. With nothing holding them back mentally or physically, Noah and Alex tear down the hallway, down hills and across the grass. They don't hold back; they're all in with each stride and living the moment for all it's worth. There's no jogging with them! That's what I think of when I see Kilian run. His mind and body are both fully engaged--he's a part of the environment. See for yourself:
I watch the many videos of Kilian that are on YouTube and I can't help but think this is the way one should run--and live. For many of us, something happens over the course of our lives that takes the inner kid from us. Maybe it's the stresses of adulthood--a mortgage and bills to pay, schedules to juggle, "stuff" to buy, a house to clean, putting food on the table, job worries, shrinking 401Ks, etc. A lot of that, I think, weighs us down, squelches our spirit and effectively kills our ability to truly live free. Life becomes almost a coffin. I have to think this all spills into running. As I asked in my last post, is going all out--like a child full of excitement--and risking spectacular failure in pursuit of great achievement really all that bad? I think if you asked that of Kilian, he'd say running with unbridled passion, regardless of what happens, is the only way to run. Maybe that explains why he loves it so much.
I think what holds of back isn't the physical or even the environment around us. What holds us back is ourselves--what's in our mind! I'll be telling myself that the next time I'm running up a 13,000 or 14,000 foot mountain and questioning whether I can keep going. I can!
I don't think what's holding us back is our mind...I think our body has a say in it too. When you run with the heart, you run hard, and when you run hard, you cause cellular changes in the muscles that unfortunately make you have to run with your head the next day (i.e. recovery day). I agree that Kilian is passionate and supremely talented, but he is still human. Young children may run with joy and no fear, but they usually can't run 100 miles at a stretch. It's the combo of heart and mind that create endurance as an adult. It may appear that Kilian is an "all heart" perfect runner, but didn't he just drop at a major international mountain race recently? He's human, just like the rest of us, and if he races too much, with too much heart, he falters just like the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteFor what it is worth,I think about such running with reckless abandon when I watch my dog fetch the frisbee. Running for pure play, to catch that disc in her mouth while on the fly, without regard for being tired ...
ReplyDeleteTrail Clown: I think running with the heart applies to people of all ages. Maybe for the 65-year-old grandmother it's making the 30-hour cutoff in a 100-miler. It's all relative. We all have different abilities. What's important, I think, is giving it our all. Age definitely is a factor!
ReplyDeleteGZ: My dog is now pretty old but when she was younger, man, could she ever fly. I used to love watching her take off.
More proof Killian is a robot. I'd have two broken ankles for sure. Probably some other broken things too.
ReplyDeleteSkip Leadville next year and come watch Killian run at Pikes in 2012.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post and your last, but adding to TrailClown's comment, my question is how can you be a daily heart runner and still avoid overtraining and injuries? I know I am a head runner and hold far too much back, so your thoughts are appreciated! thanks!
ReplyDeleteMike: I think being a heart runner goes beyond hammering it. It's a state of mind. I'm 38 years-old now and, believe me, I'm starting to feel the years. For example, on Saturday I put shelving in our master closet and the next day (Sunday) barely got through my 14-miler because my knees were so sore from all the crazy positioning I had to do while hammering nails, etc. to get the shelves in place. Anyway, I think it's necessary to take easy run days. I ran super easy this morning. But I think we often get in a mental and physical rut. Being a heart runner, to me, means living the run both mentally and physically, even if you're running at 9:00 pace. Feel the air, feel the contours of the trail or road, enjoy the sites, love every second of the run--because we're living the gift. I too often go through the motions, and I want to stop doing that and start enjoying the whole experience. And on days where I'm going fast, I need to ask myself if I can go faster. Is this really all I have...or can I amp it up even more and stretch myself in the process? For me, this means trying to go sub 6:00/mile in my tempo runs. I can easily go sub-6 in my intervals, but in my tempo runs I always keep it at 6:15-6:20 because that's what's "comfortable." But am I really stretching myself? The same goes for mountain running. Am I hiking this big ascent because it's unrunnable, or am I hiking it because in my mind I've decided I can't run it. Maybe I should ask Eric Clifton if he'd do an interview on my blog so we can help flesh it all out.
ReplyDeleteWyatt
Wyatt - Thanks for the quick response, it does make a lot of sense. In my experience (albeit limited in regards to many), I have found that running without bounds has not turned out well for me; however, running with a strict plan has produced results, though admittedly those results were far less than I likely could have achieved had I just "let go" and run. I'd be very interested to read any interview with Eric. Great blog and great dialogue. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed those 'Kilian's Quest' videos. He reminds me of Bernie Boettcher who has no fear of letting it absolutely rip near vertical downhill trails.
ReplyDeleteGZ - I really hope he runs Pikes. I'm planning on doing the ascent and would definitely stick around the next day. Just too bad you can't watch more of the race to see it unfold.
For the marathon I am sure it is very possible to see the start, get to the summit and then back down to the finish to see it in three places. Some work, but do-able.
ReplyDeleteSitting at the summit for the Ascent is an incredible thing for me.
Again a great post and a great follow up to what you've already done. Similar to TrailClown, my only caution to readers is that there are physical limits. Lost in the concept of a "heart runner" vs "head runner" is the reality that even "heart runners" know their limits (or should) -- their lactate threshold pace, their V02 max, etc.. Otherwise every race would end in disaster. Almost everyone's heart tells them to push the first 10 miles of a marathon too hard, causing them to burn too much glycogen and build up too much lactic acid. That caveat aside, I whole-heartedly agree that the intent of this conversation lies more in the spirit and passion of how we run. For example, I know a lot of runners that have both A and B goals going into a race. I find the B goal can become a crutch when giving that little extra to attain the A goal seems too hard. And it dulls the sense of failure by having a second goal and calling the A goal a "stretch" goal. My advice to them would be, have only 1 goal. Make it reasonable, but hard. And one last point, everyone goes through a stretch where they make running feel like work. We just have to learn to come back to center once in a while and do what makes us happy. One of Killian's videos was aimed at exactly that point.
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