I haven't posted for a while, I've been struggling quite a bit with motivation this month.
Towards the end of April I went out on quite a few big runs and I think I may have burnt myself out slightly. Even though I'm still keeping up with the challenge, this month has been a real grind to get out the door and running.
I think I've stuck pretty tightly to just doing 5 km or just over this month, which has brought my monthly average down a little bit.
On the upside though, I think sticking to the shorter distances has meant my speed has improved a bit and I got my fastest parkrun time of the year last weekend.
I think part of the problem I face is I haven't really stuck to a routine. I'm self-employed and so I find it quite difficult to get up early, when I don't have to and that sometimes means I put off my run until the evening.
I definitely think my next aim is to work in some kind of routine and in turn I think that will aid with my motivation.
But for now I'm 146 days down, only 220 to go!
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Training. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 May 2016
Thursday, 14 April 2016
Milestones
So, over the last couple of weeks I've achieved quite a few important milestones on my year long 5k a day journey.
The first big one, in my head at least was passing the 48 hours of running this year landmark. It's maybe a bit random, but just thinking about the fact that I've spent over two whole days of the year so far, on the road, running blew my mind slightly. It made me think about how much time I spend doing other less productive stuff too! One of the great things I've found with doing this challenge, is the fact that I realise that I do have time to do it. I think people always make the excuse of not having enough time to exercise, me included. Whereas, doing 5k a day has just forced me to make time.
The other big point of celebration for me, is passing the quarter way mark, day number 94. This run also coincided with me going on probably my best run of the year so far. I went out for a 19km run with a friend out alongside the river Witham, which runs out from Lincoln. It was a nice change to run with someone and experience a bit of nature too.
I'm also well over the 100 days mark and clocked up well over 600 km now. I'm still aiming for 2,500km over the course of the year, which means I need to up my average distances a bit. I need to try and rack up over 200km a month, which I did last month for the first time. The first couple of months of not exceeding 5km means I've got a bit of catching up to do.
But all in all, I'm pretty happy with my progress and setting myself all of these different goals and landmarks is helping me stay focused.
The first big one, in my head at least was passing the 48 hours of running this year landmark. It's maybe a bit random, but just thinking about the fact that I've spent over two whole days of the year so far, on the road, running blew my mind slightly. It made me think about how much time I spend doing other less productive stuff too! One of the great things I've found with doing this challenge, is the fact that I realise that I do have time to do it. I think people always make the excuse of not having enough time to exercise, me included. Whereas, doing 5k a day has just forced me to make time.
The other big point of celebration for me, is passing the quarter way mark, day number 94. This run also coincided with me going on probably my best run of the year so far. I went out for a 19km run with a friend out alongside the river Witham, which runs out from Lincoln. It was a nice change to run with someone and experience a bit of nature too.
I'm also well over the 100 days mark and clocked up well over 600 km now. I'm still aiming for 2,500km over the course of the year, which means I need to up my average distances a bit. I need to try and rack up over 200km a month, which I did last month for the first time. The first couple of months of not exceeding 5km means I've got a bit of catching up to do.
But all in all, I'm pretty happy with my progress and setting myself all of these different goals and landmarks is helping me stay focused.
Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Getting back in to the rhythm
For anyone who's ever studied sports science you'll know that there is an acronym, S.P.O.R.T which lays out the principles of fitness training.
Over the first week and a half of my 5k a day challenge, one of these principles has caused me a great deal of pain and frustration.
The letters of the acronym stand for specificity, progression, overload, reversibility and tedium and the one that's been troubling me is reversibility.
If you've ever reached a level of fitness and then stopped training for any reason, whether it be injury or laziness, you'll be fully aware that when you start training again your body plays a bit of a cruel trick on you. Painfully quickly you'll come to the realisation that what you were once able to do, you no longer can.
Last year I ran my first half and full marathons, to do this I was running 3 or 4 times a week, between 10 and 40 km. So when I set myself this challenge to run 5 km every day in 2016, I thought physically it would be fairly straight forward.
However, after a couple of months without running regularly, running 5 km again has felt like a massive test on my stamina. As well as the physical effects, this has a big mental impact too. It's hard for you to accept that what used to be a pretty standard run,
is now absolute agony.
But along with trying to raise money for Rethink, getting back on the road and pushing myself mentally and physically over the course of the this year was part of my motivation and this is the first hurdle I've got to overcome.
Over the first week and a half of my 5k a day challenge, one of these principles has caused me a great deal of pain and frustration.
The letters of the acronym stand for specificity, progression, overload, reversibility and tedium and the one that's been troubling me is reversibility.If you've ever reached a level of fitness and then stopped training for any reason, whether it be injury or laziness, you'll be fully aware that when you start training again your body plays a bit of a cruel trick on you. Painfully quickly you'll come to the realisation that what you were once able to do, you no longer can.
Last year I ran my first half and full marathons, to do this I was running 3 or 4 times a week, between 10 and 40 km. So when I set myself this challenge to run 5 km every day in 2016, I thought physically it would be fairly straight forward.
However, after a couple of months without running regularly, running 5 km again has felt like a massive test on my stamina. As well as the physical effects, this has a big mental impact too. It's hard for you to accept that what used to be a pretty standard run,
is now absolute agony.
But along with trying to raise money for Rethink, getting back on the road and pushing myself mentally and physically over the course of the this year was part of my motivation and this is the first hurdle I've got to overcome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)