This is a new mantra that came to me this week while running. Who says you can only have one mantra? That could get boring. And, some mantras are more targeted. Like this, “run for the boom”, isn’t really appropriate for getting me through an easy run. For a better explanation, let me give a bit of a backstory. I’ll start with some thoughts on being coached for the first time in 20+ years. I mean, there are pros and cons. A big pro is that I don’t have to think (or overthink) about my workouts. Just execute. You may have noticed in my training logs that I don’t have true paces defined now. So far, my coach has just been giving me instructions to run “hard” or “easy” or whatever. I’ve never run be effort, or perceived effort. But, it is a legitimate training approach. Used a lot by ultra runners and coaches. Since my coach is best known in the ultrarunning community, I guess I’m not surprised. It is taking a little getting used to, but I’m enjoying it. Trying new things in training is one reason I wanted a coach. New perspective.
The biggest drawback to being coached, so far as I can tell, is pushing through really tough workouts because I don’t want to explain why I quit. “It’s hard” and “it hurts” probably aren’t legit reasons to cut a run short. But, I don’t want to find out! So, in reality, this “con” is a huge positive. It’s a big reason I wanted a coach. Accountability. Some of these workouts have been tough. And I’m sure there are harder ones to come. But, that’s how you get better. Pushing your limits in training. That’s what I’ve been missing.
Back another pro of being coached. Positive reinforcement. My coach has me report to him one workout a week. Last week, it was the hard 5K in the middle of a 10 mile run. The response I got was super positive and encouraging, including “…last mile fastest…boom.” I’ve seen, and heard, that word “boom” a ton. Lots of times in regard to mine, or others, runs in my online running groups because they are wicked supportive. For some reason, this time it struck me. Maybe because I’d had a similar thought during my run. At any rate, it stuck with me for the week. Just sort of lingering in my mind.
This week, I was struggling to breathe during a 10 min stretch of “pushing”. Seriously contemplating whether I should stop, or if I was going to pass out. Or throw up. I thought “Run for the BOOM”. Meaning, push as hard as I can and hopefully the reward will be a time, a pace, that makes me think “boom”. Nailed it. Thinking of that feeling of accomplishment during the struggle. While you’re in the pain and suffering. Thinking this is why I do this. Big risk, big reward. Time plus effort equals success. This was only 2 min in. So, I backed off pace for about 30 sec or so. Got a bit of my breath back, and started pushing again. Completed 1.4 miles in those 10 min. 7:08 pace. Fastest pace for that distance I’ve done in training in a long, long time. Boom.
Training Log August 6-12, 2018: 58.6 miles.
Monday – 3.1mi @ 9:42. Nice recovery run.
Tuesday – 12.0mi @ 8:41. Warm up with intervals (8x2min), finished out steady. Intervals were at 6:40-7:00 pace and felt hard. Steady finish felt good, except for the humidity!
Wednesday – 7.0mi @ 9:22. Hot, but easy miles. Legs are feeling good.
Thursday – 8.5mi @ 8:16. This was 45 min steady, then 10 min of pushing, with a 15 min easy cool down. Steady time was okay. Push time was about the longest 10 minutes of my life.
Friday – 5.0mi @ 9:08. Nice and easy on the home treadmill. More thunderstorms. Weight session in PM (lower body).
Saturday – 15.0mi @ 8:34. First 12 miles steady, pushed the next 2, and then finished out easy. The steady started at a slower pace than I’ve been running steady. Probably because of a little soreness from the leg weights yesterday. But, evened out to a reasonable pace. Hit the push miles a little cautiously at first, but did an honest effort (7:07 and 7:03).
Sunday – 8.0mi @ 9:18. Easy miles. Not so miserably muggy since the storm on Friday. This was really comfortable!
Until next week, y’all.