As the saying goes 'Do something for 21 days in a row and it becomes a habit'. Today was my 21st time I ran in a row. Which officially means running is now ingrained as a habit for me. I don't really have to push myself out the door anymore in the morning. I just automatically start the steps in my morning routine and I'm off running before I know it. Have you ever tried to start something new or change a bad habit? It's not an easy thing to do but as long as you are strong willed, determined and persevere I believe we can achieve anything.
I was thinking about all the Olympians I watched at the Olympics this winter when I finished my run this morning. My personal goal I set for myself was to do my 6.2km run this morning in under 1 hour. A very obtainable goal seeing that it was just an easy 6 miler I had to do this morning. I have to say, I felt the heart ache I'm sure many Olympians felt when they miss their target by 1 sec or less. As you can see my time for 6.20miles, 9.98km was 1:00:01 just a second over my desired goal. The avg pace was 6:01/km, burned 1346 cal and avg heart rate of 165 bpm. I learned two things from this run today, 1. if you set a goal, track your progress, their is no reason I couldn't of beat my desired run time, I just didn't track my speed through out the run. And 2. Maybe I need to start bringing water with me on my longer runs? I always drink 1 to 2 glasses of water before leaving the house but as my runs get longer I'm going have to bring water along the way to stay hydrated. So I wonder what the maximum amount I should run before I should start bringing water with me is?
All in all it's a great feeling. Being able to fall asleep at night, no tossing and turning just solid sleep and then awake fresh and ready to run. It's been along time since I've slept through the night due to the chronic back pain which I've suffered for the last 11 years. But now that I'm in a routine of exercising and doing three rounds of stretching daily the pain has seemed to have subsided. It's not 100% gone but I can definitely feel an improvement.
So I've reached my first milestone in my time-line for achieving a completed marathon with my dad, it was to 'run 21 days in a row to solidify habit'! DONE, Achieved, checked off...now what? My next question is should I run in the Ottawa Race Weekend 5km next weekend? I'm suppose to run a 3 miler that day anyway. How do races impact the training schedule?
Lots of questions for all you running experts out there, I can't believe how many questions pop up from day to day when writing this blog. I thought for sure I would run out of things to talk about but as usual there is no loss of words for Laura. Love the advice, support and encouragement from all my family, friends and followers. Keep it comin'!
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Hi Laura, if you drink 2 full glasses of water before your run you will not need to carry a water bottle until you reach a 12 mile run or more than it would be appropriate. Having said the forgoing, that is me. Like I said earlier we are all different. So you might need water at the 10 mile mark but not before as it is a bit inconvenient having to carry a bottle before you have to.
ReplyDeleteAbout the 5 km. race. Definitely you should run it. This is where you learn that going out too fast in a race is deadly! Please, don't try to keep up with the wave of runners in the beginning of the race. If you can force yourself to do this, which is almost impossible, you will pass a lot of the runners who sped by you in the beginning. The best advice I can give you is force yourself to be in a world of your own and for the first 2 km. run the speed of your tempo runs, as that is all you are trained for. To run a lot harder than that because everyone else is will kill you at the end of the race and your 5 km time. If you are doing your tempo runs in 8 minutes, then the very best you should try for in a race is 7:30 pace. This will be fine for your first race and if you can keep this pace all the way through the race you will have a very good time. Oh, did I mention that if you race a steady pace of 7:30/km. that is better than slow/fast running or fast/slow running.
This race will give you the needed experience to know the cost of not controling yourself when you are in a marathon. If you go out too fast it is almost a guarantee you will not finish the marathon. Well, anyway Honey, you don't have to worry about that as I will be there by your side holding you back every step of the way. I'm really excited to see how you do!!! Cheers, Dad
Thanks Dad, ok 2 big glasses of water till 12 miles, sounds good. 7:30/km pace race for the 5km in a couple of weeks, I can do that:)
ReplyDeleteSo glad you will be there, don't think I could do without you