While working on my running goal, I’ve been reading about different techniques to keep motivated and to work smarter, not harder, etc. One web site (which shall remain nameless) suggests to start out running as far as you go and then walking the rest of the way. Each time you do this you should try to run a little farther. This is crap.
Everything has a logical order, I think I expressed that clearly enough in “I Don’t Believe in Randomness“. Exercise is no different. I mentioned last week that you can’t vary your pace, you have to keep it steady. The more I thought about it, I realized that I was going about my running goal backwards.
So today, I started off walking at a strong pace and when I got the last block, THEN I took off running. Not full speed, but a pretty decent jog. Checked my time…sure enough it was my fastest one yet. Only by working up a steady walking pace could I be prepared to run and keep my pace up all the way to the end. Tomorrow I’m going to do the same thing except start my jog about a half block sooner. Eventually I will have backed that up all the way to my starting point and then I can say I can run a mile. After that, I think I might try for two miles…
Are you moving backwards towards your goals?
1 comment
Positively Present
Great post! Sometimes I think we put too much pressure on ourselves, rushing right into run mode. It’s much more important to start slow and to build up some endurance first. I really enjoyed this. Thank you!