Running on - Consistency...
If there's one thing I've learned from Brenda, it's that consistency plays a huge role in the running game. I've watched her buckle down over the past year and a half/two years and remain consistent with her training. I've also watched her times come down (the highlight: a sub 60 minute 10K). Hard work and consistency pays off.
And that's what I am trying very hard to achieve. Consistency has never been, well, consistent in my running life. I go for a while and then fall off that wagon - get back on, work my way up, then fall off again. I am smart enough to know that every fall, every month/two month break in running means starting over when I finally get around to lacing up the shoes. Smart enough, but maybe not wise enough because it keeps happening.
This time will be different.* My approach is different - giving myself room to change it up if I have to (ie running only 3 times a week if I am not feeling the love on Monday after my Saturday long run; or being OK with walking mostly on Heart Rate Training Days; or embracing the Turtle-like speed of my runs). And focusing on each run as it happens, not worrying about 2 weeks or 6 months in the future. I'm also trying very hard to have a goal for every run - something that plays into my analytical thinking and my love of stats.
Today was a repeat of the last two weeks. Interval long run of 7/3 x 8 for 1:20:00 (and almost 6 miles). The weather wasn't the greatest - in fact, I had thought I would be doing a treadmill run - but I got out there with the goal of slow and steady. I'll be honest, I wasn't feeling the love. But my mantra of 'that's all you have to do' kept me in the now. All I had to do was run 7 minutes, then I'd get a lovely 3 minute walk interval. There was so much non-love that I even promised myself I could quit at any time. But the zeroing in on only 7 minutes kept me fresh and I ended up doing all the intervals.
As for the other part of consistency, it was my goal to keep all those intervals around the same pace. My graphs usually are up and down as I swing from 'oops, too fast' to 'slow as molasses' many times during an interval. Not this time. I love the look of this graph - a great reminder of consistency in more ways than one.
And that's what I am trying very hard to achieve. Consistency has never been, well, consistent in my running life. I go for a while and then fall off that wagon - get back on, work my way up, then fall off again. I am smart enough to know that every fall, every month/two month break in running means starting over when I finally get around to lacing up the shoes. Smart enough, but maybe not wise enough because it keeps happening.
This time will be different.* My approach is different - giving myself room to change it up if I have to (ie running only 3 times a week if I am not feeling the love on Monday after my Saturday long run; or being OK with walking mostly on Heart Rate Training Days; or embracing the Turtle-like speed of my runs). And focusing on each run as it happens, not worrying about 2 weeks or 6 months in the future. I'm also trying very hard to have a goal for every run - something that plays into my analytical thinking and my love of stats.
Today was a repeat of the last two weeks. Interval long run of 7/3 x 8 for 1:20:00 (and almost 6 miles). The weather wasn't the greatest - in fact, I had thought I would be doing a treadmill run - but I got out there with the goal of slow and steady. I'll be honest, I wasn't feeling the love. But my mantra of 'that's all you have to do' kept me in the now. All I had to do was run 7 minutes, then I'd get a lovely 3 minute walk interval. There was so much non-love that I even promised myself I could quit at any time. But the zeroing in on only 7 minutes kept me fresh and I ended up doing all the intervals.
As for the other part of consistency, it was my goal to keep all those intervals around the same pace. My graphs usually are up and down as I swing from 'oops, too fast' to 'slow as molasses' many times during an interval. Not this time. I love the look of this graph - a great reminder of consistency in more ways than one.
*knock on wood, fingers crossed, etc
(Thanks to my friend Julie who watched me come up the hill on my last interval and cheered me on)
J
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