I have been thinking on the mental aspects of running quite a lot as of late. I had convinced myself early on that I would be slow and I think I accepted that for quite some time. There is nothing wrong with running slow, but there is nothing wrong with running faster either. For the past couple of weeks I have trying to push my limits in terms of speed. I am trying to break my mental block in terms of speed and become a faster runner. I don't want to break any records, I just want to get closer to my potential.
Tonight was my fastest 5 mile run, I want to say ever but it really is since I returned to running. A small aside, I used to run a 6:30 minute pace when I was in the military. But at that time I weighed a good deal less and I was much younger. But for now this was fast. The time was 53:27, this translates into a 10:41 pace for the entire thing. The other part of that that is impressive for me is that only one mile was more than 11:00. It looked like this:
1 - 10:40
2 - 10:17
3 - 10:31
4 - 11:03
5 - 10:55
I will admit that I had to push to maintain this speed. Mile 4 was an uphill or I think that I would have broken the 11:00 barrier on this mile as well. I just knew that I could do it and just pushed through all the baggage I have carried related to speed. I kept at it, there was pain and I focused through it. Running fast(er) carries a certain amount of discomfort, there will be more of this before there is comfort. But I am overcoming the next barrier.
The first barrier was the motivation to just get out and do it, the barrier after this one was overcoming injuries, and this barrier is breaking preconceived notions about what type of runner I am. I this mental side of my running will need some real effort and constant attention.
I have found the other side of 11:00, lets see what happens next. For now, I will focus on maintaining this for longer runs. I'll let you know what goal I intend to break next. For now, lets just say sub 11:00 pace for 7 miles; wish me good fortune.
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6 comments:
hey Rob,
Are you doing speed work? I am planning to incorporate it for next half marathon training and I wondered if you were following a plan?
Nat
I just started to do some tempo runs, not really speed work per se. So, I guess the short answer is that there is no real plan I am following, yet.
Great run, Rob.
All right pal. No more bets with you. I'm not worthy.
GREAT WORK!!
Nancy: I think dropping 20 pounds has improved my speed more than anything else.
Great run. Just a question - are you getting in some sort of warmup before you do your speedwork? I'd recommend at least a half mile.
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