Three Weeks Out

Three weeks out - or 18 days to be more precise - it’s time to get our stuff together.

Many training programs for half and full marathons last between 14 and 20 weeks. While few will debate the importance of consistent mileage, proper nutrition, and strength training, these practices may seem less urgent 12 weeks out than 3 weeks out.

We’re just under 3 weeks from Christmas and, like getting ready for a major race, now is the time to make sure everything is in order. The goal of a good training program isn’t just to get you to race day, but to get you there feeling confident and strong. Likewise, our goal for Advent (do you have a goal for advent?) shouldn’t be just to get it across the line, but should be to arrive at Christmas ready to receive Christ anew.

So what am I doing three weeks before a major race?

Building up towards my last marathon, I logged just over 60 miles for the week including a 19 mile long with a 3 mile tempo built in. My nutrition was keyed in and I was intently focused on making sure I was getting the right amount of sleep. Now - I was doing this with less than a month until race day.

Did I have my nutrition dialed in for 18 weeks, though? Absolutely not.

I’m not one to skip runs, but it was definitely more tempting to do so two months out from my race than it was with three weeks to go.

So just a few weeks before the race and I’m taking stock on different mechanical issues (how’s that ankle feel? Left hip feeling tight, will need to roll it out a bit extra later) and I’m beginning to mentally enter a state of focus and determination. What I wear, what I listen to, and what I eat can all help my mind and body enter into a “pre-race” state of focus. (If “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys comes on, it means it’s time for business.)

So how are we preparing for Christmas? In the weeks leading up to Advent, the mass readings convey a sense of urgency. “Lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble" (Malachi 3:19) or, “The days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down” (Luke 5:6). The time is now; you have to get it together now. So how do we prepare? We put up particular decorations, listen to special songs, go through traditions and even eat special foods - these all help our minds and our bodies enter into a particular state of preparation: hey, something special, something different is happening.

We have three weeks until Christmas - it’s time to get it together. Remember when you said you'd get to confession eventually, well - it's eventually. Remember when you said you'd start journaling more...well...now's a great time to start! What prayer practices have you been meaning to make a habit of? Now is a great time to recommit to them. What’s your spiritual nutrition plan look like? After all, in a race, what we take in affects what we are able to put out - the same is true of our spiritual lives. Whether it’s a podcast, devotion, morning rosary, or time before the Blessed Sacrament, we need nourishment - mind, body and soul. When it comes to a training plan, if someone misses a run, they rarely drop out of the race entirely. Instead, they adjust the plan and try again the next day. So if you commit to a prayer practice this advent, if you slip up, don’t abandon the entire plan! Adjust and try again the next day.