Over the last several weeks, my runs have been 30 minutes/3 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Admittedly, this is really nothing to write home about. What's the big deal, right?
Well, they are getting easier. That's what. There is less right knee discomfort. Less right lower leg fatigue. I feel like I can go a little longer.
I've even been able to "pick up the pace" at the end of the runs, which feels really good. Let's face it, fast is fun.
There was a period of time where I thought I might be stuck at the 5k distance. I was beginning to think it was all my body could handle on a regular basis. I think this will be true for a while, but adaptation is slowly taking place.
In the beginning of my little experiment, my body was changing quickly. I could add some distance on a regular basis. Now, it feels like I need to spend more and more time at a given distance before I move up a notch.
Some of the barrier seems psychological vs physical. When I made it to the 5k distance there was a You've made it!!! type of thought in my head. That thought put me into a take it easy and just run mindset. There is really nothing wrong with this but I knew deep down I would eventually have to move beyond it.
As a rule, I get bored easily with workouts. I need to be constantly changing things up to make it interesting. Part of the problem comes from having such a wealth of knowledge & experience about exercise, the human body, physiology, and different training techniques.
During a typical run, I probably change my mind on what I'm going to do, how far I'm going to go, and what pace I will run about a dozen times. I call it Exercise ADD. My mind shoots from one idea to another like a dog in a room full of squirrels. It does keep things interesting.
The problem with Exercise ADD is that you never really get to see the results of a particular exercise routine. As an example, let's say I was to do 2:1 intervals while running (that would be twice as much slow pace running vs fast). If I was to do this, consistently, for a month, I could do a before and after test on my 5k time. Now, let's say I get to the second 2:1 run and decide to make it 3:1 or 1.5:1 or race pace run. Then the third run is long, steady pace. The fourth run is back to a 2:1 interval. By the time the month is up, I won't be able to tell what effect the 2:1 intervals had because I won't have done them consistently enough.
I have to admit that deep down I don't really care. I like mixing things up and being imaginative. What exactly am I training for anyways? Fun is more important than "good training principles".
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