The Duality of Running
This week's post was inspired by a tweet that I saw a couple of days ago. The tweet was from Greg McMillan, who is a well-known running coach who has a website with tons of running content at www.mcmillanrunning.com. I have embedded the tweet from Greg below.
Anyone who has spent even a small amount of time in the sport of running can likely relate to the idea espoused here.
For some of us, myself included, the natural pull is to go too hard, to be too disciplined and focused on nailing every workout, and to sometimes lose sight of the joy that we should be taking from something that is ultimately a recreational activity.
For others, running is mostly for fun, to enjoy the time with nature and their friends, and the idea of committing to a training schedule and grinding out workouts sounds about as inviting as a root canal.
Obviously, the key is finding the right balance. For me, the most important thing to take from this is that we should be fluid, and allow our approach to change as required. And also, that the answer likely never lies 100% on one side or the other.
If you are someone who is all about paces and personal bests, remember to find some time every now and then to just get out for a run with no purpose other than to run. Maybe go with a friend who runs a little slower than your normal pace, which will force you to take it a bit easier and just enjoy the moment.
Conversely, if you are someone who normally couldn't care less about your times, maybe it wouldn't hurt to push yourself from time to time to see if you can lower that personal best just a little bit. And to help, maybe tag along with a friend who runs a little faster than your normal pace, and let them push you to find that little bit extra that you might not have even realized you had.
In the end, we all come to this sport for our own reasons, and the main thing is that we enjoy the way we experience it. But it doesn't hurt every now and then to step back and reassess, and see if there might be something on the other side that could make your experience even better.
Weekly Summary (April 23-29)
Mon.: Off
Tue. (Evening): 10 min warmup, 8 x 400m (77/85/84/88/86/91/90/86) w/ 400m recovery, 10 min cooldown (Workout total: 10.2 km, 51:10, 5:02/km pace)
Wed. (Lunch): 5.6 km, 29:45, 5:18/km pace
Thu. (Evening): 10 min warmup, 4 x 5 min (4:00/km / 4:03/km / 4:12/km / 4:14/km) w/ 2 min recovery, 15 min cooldown (Workout total: 10.7 km, 53:07, 4:57/km pace)
Fri. (Lunch): 6 km, 31:20, 5:13/km pace [treadmill]
Sat. (Morning): 5 km, 30;11, 6:02/km pace
Sun. (Morning): 13.3 km, 1:14:56, 5:38/km pace
Total: 50.75 km
This week marked the start of our Tely 10 clinic, which also happened to coincide with my first real workout in a group setting. Tuesday evening we were doing 8 x 400m, with the goal pace being a little faster than 5k race pace. Seeing as how the first interval clocked in at about a 3:12/km pace, and I'm only hitting that for 5k in my wildest dreams, it's safe to say the pace got pushed a little too hard to start! I quickly settled in to a much better rhythm, and ended up averaging about 3:35/km for the intervals. That is probably right around where I should be right now, although next time I should try to replace the 77s interval and the two 90s+ intervals with a few more mid 80s!
Thursday's workout was a tempo workout, with 4 x 5 min intervals. The plan here was goal Tely pace, which for me is somewhere around 4:00/km. I managed to hit right around that pace for the first two, and then fell off noticeably in the last two. I'm not shocked with this, as Dave and I have already discussed the fact that my Lactate Threshold is behind my VO2 max right now (that's really just a fancy way to say I'm better at short, fast speed than holding a sustained pace right now). Luckily, I've got 11 more weeks of hard training before the Tely to get that straightened out!
I managed to get two weekend runs in this week. Saturday morning was our Learn to Run graduation with the Paradise Running Club. It was a beautiful morning for it, and it was great to see all the graduates finish their 5k. The run also provided an opportunity to catch up with some running buddies I haven't seen in a bit, which is always a nice added bonus.
Sunday morning was our long run with the clinic group. I'm working to reduce my pace on my long runs, as I have been informed I've likely been running them too hard the last few years, which compromises the benefits from my workouts during the week. The unexpected heat and humidity in late April certainly helped with that, while providing the added benefit of some hot weather Tely training a couple of months earlier than most years!
Well, I think that covers it all for this week. As always, thanks for reading. Cheers!
Running is very yin-yang. Train hard but not too hard. Use technology but don't rely on it. Learn the complexities but keep it simple. Be disciplined but go w/ the flow. Take it seriously but don't forget to have fun. The art of it is applying each to your ever-changing situation— Greg McMillan (@GregMcMillan) April 27, 2018
Anyone who has spent even a small amount of time in the sport of running can likely relate to the idea espoused here.
For some of us, myself included, the natural pull is to go too hard, to be too disciplined and focused on nailing every workout, and to sometimes lose sight of the joy that we should be taking from something that is ultimately a recreational activity.
For others, running is mostly for fun, to enjoy the time with nature and their friends, and the idea of committing to a training schedule and grinding out workouts sounds about as inviting as a root canal.
Obviously, the key is finding the right balance. For me, the most important thing to take from this is that we should be fluid, and allow our approach to change as required. And also, that the answer likely never lies 100% on one side or the other.
If you are someone who is all about paces and personal bests, remember to find some time every now and then to just get out for a run with no purpose other than to run. Maybe go with a friend who runs a little slower than your normal pace, which will force you to take it a bit easier and just enjoy the moment.
Conversely, if you are someone who normally couldn't care less about your times, maybe it wouldn't hurt to push yourself from time to time to see if you can lower that personal best just a little bit. And to help, maybe tag along with a friend who runs a little faster than your normal pace, and let them push you to find that little bit extra that you might not have even realized you had.
In the end, we all come to this sport for our own reasons, and the main thing is that we enjoy the way we experience it. But it doesn't hurt every now and then to step back and reassess, and see if there might be something on the other side that could make your experience even better.
Weekly Summary (April 23-29)
Mon.: Off
Tue. (Evening): 10 min warmup, 8 x 400m (77/85/84/88/86/91/90/86) w/ 400m recovery, 10 min cooldown (Workout total: 10.2 km, 51:10, 5:02/km pace)
Wed. (Lunch): 5.6 km, 29:45, 5:18/km pace
Thu. (Evening): 10 min warmup, 4 x 5 min (4:00/km / 4:03/km / 4:12/km / 4:14/km) w/ 2 min recovery, 15 min cooldown (Workout total: 10.7 km, 53:07, 4:57/km pace)
Fri. (Lunch): 6 km, 31:20, 5:13/km pace [treadmill]
Sat. (Morning): 5 km, 30;11, 6:02/km pace
Sun. (Morning): 13.3 km, 1:14:56, 5:38/km pace
Total: 50.75 km
This week marked the start of our Tely 10 clinic, which also happened to coincide with my first real workout in a group setting. Tuesday evening we were doing 8 x 400m, with the goal pace being a little faster than 5k race pace. Seeing as how the first interval clocked in at about a 3:12/km pace, and I'm only hitting that for 5k in my wildest dreams, it's safe to say the pace got pushed a little too hard to start! I quickly settled in to a much better rhythm, and ended up averaging about 3:35/km for the intervals. That is probably right around where I should be right now, although next time I should try to replace the 77s interval and the two 90s+ intervals with a few more mid 80s!
Thursday's workout was a tempo workout, with 4 x 5 min intervals. The plan here was goal Tely pace, which for me is somewhere around 4:00/km. I managed to hit right around that pace for the first two, and then fell off noticeably in the last two. I'm not shocked with this, as Dave and I have already discussed the fact that my Lactate Threshold is behind my VO2 max right now (that's really just a fancy way to say I'm better at short, fast speed than holding a sustained pace right now). Luckily, I've got 11 more weeks of hard training before the Tely to get that straightened out!
I managed to get two weekend runs in this week. Saturday morning was our Learn to Run graduation with the Paradise Running Club. It was a beautiful morning for it, and it was great to see all the graduates finish their 5k. The run also provided an opportunity to catch up with some running buddies I haven't seen in a bit, which is always a nice added bonus.
Sunday morning was our long run with the clinic group. I'm working to reduce my pace on my long runs, as I have been informed I've likely been running them too hard the last few years, which compromises the benefits from my workouts during the week. The unexpected heat and humidity in late April certainly helped with that, while providing the added benefit of some hot weather Tely training a couple of months earlier than most years!
Well, I think that covers it all for this week. As always, thanks for reading. Cheers!
Great first week dude!
ReplyDeleteThanks coach!
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