A look at my training diary from back then (because I was actually keeping one back then!!) shows I was doing a lot of 1km time trials on the treadmill at the gym, and also was tracking my time over 2km and 3km too - so I was focussing on short, maintained speed work, and of course I was losing weight back then, and feeling positive. Well, generally positive, I guess, haha. I was regularly doing the weights work I've started doing again, but I included cardio work more often, and so I think I was a lot fitter over - say - 20 minutes of continuous effort. A look over some Garmin graphs backs that up. I was walking, sure, but my running speed was faster, and decent over then risk half of the route, with rarely ANY walking before halfway - my running pace was faster, but more significantly so was my walking pace! By not keeping up the shorter speed work, it's affected my running pace over the shorter bursts and more continuous bits, but my general lack of cardio fitness has also resulted in a slower walking pace during runs. Great pointers for what to work on now, in order to get back to 36-ish minutes, and then get faster. My all-time PB is 34:04, done all running, and I think its achievable again, with effort.
So why should I make the effort? It's been pointed out a few times that since I don't enjoy runnung, why don't I just call it a day and walk away? Stick with the gym work, for example? Well, there are a few reasons, all of them related to the things that go on in my head. Running had been the most sociable form of exercise I've ever found, and meeting all the people I have over the last 3 years has been life-changing for me. There's more about why I keep trying to start running again, than just the people, but it's difficult to put into words in a public facing blog, lol. Maybe one day... x x
I believe this post illustrates how keeping logs can be useful. You can look back at previous years and see patterns or progress or losses and look to what changes have happened between now and then.
ReplyDeleteLooking at your running vs walking, part of this will be down to weight and fitness, part down to your mental commitment at the time. Could you have been more determined to get a good time back in 2012?
One factor back in 2012 that may have helped is not just the physical fitness gains the hard efforts on the treadmill will have provided, but it would also have conditioned your mind to get used to fatigue so that later efforts at near that intensity are no longer so much of shock to the system.
There are now sport scientists who characterise fatigue as an emotion, and is an emotion the body (central governor) creates to inform us that we are pushing our bodies out of homeostasis. The more we practise working hard the better our central governor gets are judging what is safe to continue doing and what isn't - and as it gets better at judging the more relaxed it can be when push ourselves a bit out of homeostatis. The end effect is we might be working just as hard as before but emotion of fatigue can be up or down regulated by the central governor. It could be that back in 2012 thanks to the intense training you were given a little more leeway and felt less fatigue and better able to keep pushing on.
Looking back to your 30 day challenge I wonder if this might also have been a factor along with the gains in performance. My perception was that on this challenge you looked to go through a tough time in the first half but in the later half things seemed to come easier and you knocked out some great runs.
I'd take this as encouragement - it could be just a month away from turning things around and starting to find things easier. You won't go beating records in just one month, but you could start seeing gains in various markers of fitness, and for those gains to come more effortlessly than you might at first find it.
You're hitting lots of nails on heads there, Robert!! lots. :-) x
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