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So, you’re a runner now!
I thought I might put some stuff to you as the weeks progress, if and when I get time. (I actually just wanted an excuse to play with a different blogging platform)
Thoughts on running. Take or leave it as you wish.
As I’ve said to you before, it breaks my heart is when I hear people say “I hate running” ! I think some people say this when they mean to say “I find running hard”.
They’re right of course. Running can be hard as an adult. I make a lot of how little kids LOVE running, but those tikes are shifting like 15kgs. Of course it’s fun for them!
Nonetheless, I believe we lose touch with our innate love of running (yes, it’s in there) when we begin to see it as a tool that elite athletes use for fitness.
From there, it makes sense to most people that running for fitness means running HARD, every session. The type of running that hurts your lungs and legs whenever you do it. No wonder running loses its sense of fun.
Woody Allen once said that “80 percent of success in life is just showing up”. Remember this now that you’re a runner.
Running for fitness is NOT a matter of blowing yourself up every time you go. It’s about consistency. Challenging but not torturing yourself for a few weeks, then a few months and then a few years. (OK, by then you’ll be wanting to torture yourself in one session a week!)
What you should have found last week is that you can run for longer than your 12 minute test, if you just slow things down a little. As a runner, you will come to look forward your Threshold pace sessions (also known as “Tempo” or “T” pace). By the time the season is done, you’ll be tooling around at that pace for half an hour, hopefully loving every minute.
Feel the cool air moving over your body. Let your mind go and get a bit of the week’s shit out. Feel free and enjoy it. That mindset will become a habit.
If you are finding your Threshold pace too challenging (can’t keep it going for the time nominated), then talk to me ASAP. We want fitness to “sneak up on you” over the next 2 months, almost without you noticing.
The worst thing we could do is leave you fearful or resentful of your programmed runs.
