Tag: Training

First Run Back, An Update

Posted on by Lucas

It’s been awhile. Just like my other post mentioning this – I need to stay consistent. Things got in the way but I’m looking forward again. The first run of my new training block was today and it was a doozy. Garmin was being difficult for the first mile and not updating my heart rate to then jump and make it overshoot my target HR. Fastest mile was the first one and it only got slower from there. I know running by heart rate does this but it’ll take time to get used to.

I followed up the run with leg day so tomorrow I’ll be regretting this when I wake up. We’ll see how that run will go… Fight thru the pain and maybe I’ll give myself a cookie tomorrow. Stretching is hard even though I’m trying to make it a priority now. Let’s hope it does some magic and hide the worst of it. I’m sure it will save me down the road from future injuries.

Another priority is diet and I’m trying to hold a deficit for real this time. Food is tasty and I love the idea of a good meal to devour. Hard not to think about giving myself a pat on the back and treating myself every day for minute things. Today was a good day though. Protein goals were hit and the meals were filling today. I’m sure as I run more the worst I’ll be so I can’t wait to look back on this. I think focusing on water also helped with that. Focusing on how my body feels has proven I eat when I’m thirsty and bored.

Hopefully, I can stick to the schedule of all this and come out on top. This is truly day 1 now and I have a long road ahead. Let’s enjoy this journey.

Becoming a Habitual Runner

Posted on by Lucas

I’ve started to read Atomic Habits by James Clear and it hits everything I’ve been feeling ever since I started a workout goal. Creating a big plan to achieve your goal, hit specific milestones, just having everything go according to plan…but then after the first few weeks the excuses start to feel valid and skipping workout days starts to be part of the big plan you’ve created. Is there really any reason to skip workouts? I thought I really wanted to achieve my goals but here I was and am. What happened to this big plan of mine? I have all these thoughts “running” (ha!) through my head on if this really is important to me anymore. The book highlights all these feelings and pitfalls that can happen for any habit you’re trying to form. Everyone should read the book themselves but the one thing to takeaway from this post is the greatest achievers find ways to cut through the bad days and show up regardless to how they feel.

I can go back to when I first started running before all the nagging injuries and really knowing what I was doing. I had my best half-marathon time of breaking the two hour mark and have yet to reach it since. What changed from then to now? I was more consistent even on the terrible days. I ran in the snow. I ran on ice. I ran when it rained. I ran in sub-freezing temps. Since then, I’ve skipped plenty of runs with half-assed excuses. Threshold runs were skipped because “I didn’t want to injure myself” when in reality I really didn’t want to push myself. Tempo runs were skipped just because I wasn’t “feeling it” for that day when I should’ve done a replacement run at the bare minimum. When I finish races I look at how I stand out from my age group and am always disappointed I’m never near the top. How do I go about changing this? Embrace the suck, get one percent better every day, no days off, etc. It starts with consistent training habits.

All this is to say where I’m at training is better but needs to be taken day by day and not lose sight of the big picture. Right now, we’re getting strong in the weight room to build a strong base for injuring prevention. I’ve been running injured far too long and been running way to tight. I’ve started new habits of stretching alongside getting to the weight room every day. The training starts today and not tomorrow. Progress won’t be noticeable some days but it builds regardless if you see it.

A quote of a quote from the book stands out perfectly for my goal and runners alike: The last mile is always the least crowded.