I have a new personal record for my run home from work. Its 41m:31s over 9.6km and that's about a minute better than my last best time. I was around 45mins when I started caring about it its become 43mins then 42mins …So what’s changed? Well for one, I had a combination of Oats and bran that morning. I also had a leg training day so perhaps my legs were stronger? Dunno.
I brought a packet of oatmeal into the office for my 15:00 meal which I loaded with banana slices. I like that meal. I also had the usual breakfast of 2 poached eggs, a hash brown, 2 grilled tomatoes, mushrooms and baked beans. I also had a peanut and banana smoothie. Though that's pretty much my usual routine.
Just thinking now about eating – one thing I wont ever do again is eat sweet potatoes before a run – I felt like a bloated sweet potatoe for most of that run, but we’re not talking about that run now, we’re talking about this one…
I’ve pretty much given up on running with a set breathing pattern and I was speaking to a guy from work who’s a runner and he’s also of the opinion that one should just run and breath as it happens – so anyway that's what I’m doing now. Not getting stiches or anything like that but I’m moving my arms more now and its my legs and knees that start to get heavier as I run. I’m trying to maintain consistency most of the time. I read a thing that Bruce Lee said about “long term consistency trumps short term intensity” and another old runners saying is that “slow and steady gets you there”. So there is a bit of embracing that.
The main reason I think I did on this run – because I wanted to. I was motivated. I ran around corners and spots that I normally slow down on and kept the legs moving fairly rapidly and it helped that my lungs and diaphragm aren’t at odds anymore – they’re in sync and talking nicely to each other now. Also I ran down the hills faster than usual. Its a tricky thing running down hills because you feel so much weight coming down onto your kness and feet and you’re thinking like “light and dainty like a dancer, light and soft” but I inevitably feel like I’m planting each stride into ground with a thump which i dont want to do – its about springing reaction – its actually easier to do if you’re not tired and is quite possible to run light this way.
Also, I think my legs are getting stronger. I run up this 12degree incline and while I’m nearly dead by the top, Its not my lungs that are struggling, its my legs that are burning but they make it though each time. Its a good hill.
The interesting thing is that I’ve joined a new website that really analyses my runs and performance which is something I never really wanted early on and then started thinking about something like it later on - to really see what I’m getting out of each and every run I do. So a personal best is not something I’ve ever cared about, nor is my performance against my previous ones. It was just about getting through it every time. Though now with Strava, I have these insights and they are exciting to see and I guess that motivates me. Also its not just that, its also because I was pushing because I felt good most of the time and I though if I feel good and I’m running good then this should be a good time and if I back off the pace now, while I'm in this good place, I wont have a good result/time to show for it. So I’m running against myself now whereas before I was just running. Also a walker-by gave me the thumbs up in the beginning and I wonder if psychologically that helps with my mental well being. Its certainly true that your mind and state of well being influences your performance.
I guess you’ve got to stick to what you want to do – for a long time what I wanted to do was just run, now I want to run better – I swing my arms like never before – I incorporate hills into my runs and I run more than ever, I run in with a packet of oats for my pre-run meal – why? Because I want to get better.