(27-03-2011, 12:50 PM)marathondan Wrote: Interesting that you are benefitting from daily outings of not much more than a mile - a new policy round these parts I think. Maybe the gain is mental as well as physical?
Funny but I've been mulling over that quite a bit lately. Certainly over the course of a working week it adds another 45 - 60 minutes of running in relatively easy fashion, which is nothing to thumb your nose at, but I do think now that the mental side of it is probably the more important.
My working days starts when I leave home at 5:30 a.m. and I don't get home until sometime between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m. Therefore, I'm cream-crackered and thought of changing into running togs and hitting the streets for 5km or more gets short shrift, especially as we head into winter. However jumping on the treadmill for 15 minutes is another thing, which is what I've been doing quite successfully.
The main benefit though is indeed mental. After four long days at work, if I don't run I'm quite exhausted and just not in that space marked "runner". But by running every day, even for just 15 minutes, it becomes another part of the daily routine and getting out the door on my days off is just an extension of that, instead of something that requires motivation and effort and even a modicum of planning. By running daily, life accomodates it far more readily, rather than me having to try and squeeze it into the schedule. Last week it resulted in a tad over 33 km for the week. Had I not done the short runs I feel certain my weekly total would have been significantly less, and not just by the kilometres run on the short days.
Anyway, this week I persisted with the short runs skipping only once. As I had by that stage run for ten consecutive days it wasn't a problem to have a rest day and by then I really did need one, having somewhat overdone the tempo session the day before.
On Friday I did my long run - 14km - instead of Sunday which is race day. Comfortably completed and I now feel ready to tackle another half mara. The one I've entered in six weeks time however has a strict cut off - you must pass the 11km mark inside 75 minutes or they pull you from the course. At the moment I could probably just scrape it in but I do need to concentrate on some speed work over the next few weeks to ensure I get some pace back into my legs. I'm definitely improving in that regard, so I'm confident unless something untoward happens that on race day I will be fine.
Meantime, I have a small matter of a 10km fun run tomorrow to complete. It has a few hills in it for added interest so will be a good training run, though I'm not expecting anything exciting in terms of pace. Will undoubtedly be fun though, which is the main thing.
Cheers, RC-people!
Mangling March or, Sleepless in Sydney.
