Monday, December 9, 2013

Perspective: More is Better

In an effort to become a proficient marathoner I have decided, as noted previously, that the only way to get better at running more is to run more. My modest plan is to try and get to a point where I am running 100km (62 miles) per week on a regular basis. For some this is not a lofty goal, but for me I enter this phase with more than a little trepidation given my checkered past of injury and the like.

So you will excuse me if I express a small bit of shock at the fact that not only did I hit a mileage milestone last week (107.67km, or 66.9 miles), but moreso because I feel really good! Old wonky runner would now go straight into another week of milestone chasing, but new wonky runner is listening to the advice of those around him, not the least of which the experienced runners of a new running group I've joined, and will use this coming week as a step back. It's crazy to say, but if I run somewhere around 80km (50 miles) THAT will count! Prior to the past four weeks I'd only gotten to 80km in a week three times in my entire life!

It's all about perspective.

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3 Comments:

Blogger Nelly said...

Wow! Nice work on the mileage! Hope it keeps going smoothly for you. What is the main change that you made to avoid getting injured and be able to run that many miles?

December 9, 2013 at 11:59 PM  
Blogger Vava said...

Honestly, I don't have a clear answer to that question. However, I have gone back to running almost exclusively based on heart rate and have kept things very much in the aerobic range, most times below 140bpm in fact. Although that's not a change, it's what allowed me to run healthy for a long stretch in the past, and I guess it's working so far. I also think that running daily, and really making sure that recovery/easy runs are in fact very very easily done, makes a huge difference as I don't stiffen up in the same way that I seem to when I take days off altogether. It's only been about five weeks of this so definitely early days, but I'm hoping it lasts.

December 10, 2013 at 10:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have a similar experience with recently increasing my mileage. Although I don't use a heart monitor, all of my runs are aerobic. No injuries whatsoever, and the recovery between runs is fast, which enables me to run for seven days a week for the last six weeks now. When I first started out, I also had a lot of pains and injuries, and I think due to speed work, which was part of my training plan at the time.

December 19, 2013 at 9:58 AM  

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