I can't help it, I want to go fast. Last night, Andy and I headed out for a 40 minute tempo run around 9pm and for some reason, I really wanted to see what I could do. It was a beautiful night, with a slender new moon hanging over the western horizon, and after about 5 minutes, I began to speed up until we reached a 9:30/minute mile. At the faster pace, it was difficult to remain consistent. We fluctuated between about 8:30 and 10:00, with one spurt at about 8:00. For now, that seems to be this machine's top speed - I could only keep it up for a couple of minutes.
About 4 miles into the run, I noticed Andy sneaking looks at me. "Tired," I asked gleefully. I was a bit tired too, but I thought about the advice from my running books: slowing down is often just a lapse in concentration; if you don't feel good, try running faster; stay with your competition until you can't any longer, then overtake them(!) I had fallen to a 10:06 pace, and I consciously pushed it faster, staying there until we reached the panhandle and could jog a fast, relaxed pace home.
I came away feeling like I'd overcome a plateau, that I had begun to tap into a new level of fitness and endurance. Shaving off the next 2 minutes per mile will be a more difficult (and long) task, but I'm ready for it.
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5 comments:
Mike taught me long ago to speed up on tempo runs when I started getting tired. It's always worked for me. Your brain plays tricks on you to conserve energy. Especially when it tells you that you need to slow down because you're tired.
As you've probably read, you want to keep the tempo portion of the run smooth and your HR under control (of course I didn't take this advice on Tuesday night). You want to keep the HR around 85% HR max to help train your body improve it's lactate tolerance. If you speed up too much and push too hard, your body continues with lactate production and little is gained. But I understand how fun it is to run faster than normal ... save those speedy workouts for your intervals.
I wanted to share this funny jogging video on youtube.
Joe the Jogger
-Joe the Jogger
That's good advice... If you're getting tired, speed up. It's actually worked for me, but hearing it (Ok, reading it) for the first time kind of makes the light bulb go on over my head.
Now I can use it as a tool, and not just stumble blindly across it and forget what happened almost immediately after the run (or ride).
Thanks for the tip. Your progress should ramp up rapidly I expect from this point.
The more I read your blog, the more inspired I am to run--on top of my lifelong love of running of course! Maybe if I train little by little, I can overcome the knee issues?
Am even thinking I might have a half-marathon in me. Am considering training for the San Francisco half-marathon--could then run the first half with you two.
BTW, is Andy going to do the full marathon with you?
Phil gives great advice! Hey, glad to see you're still at it. My three weeks of rest because of the knee left me for not much reason to blog, and as a result not checking others. Very inspiring to see everyone still hard at work!
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