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For the last decade, I’ve considered myself a serious athlete.
How much running is the right amount, though?
doing with relative ease.
For this run, my goal wasn’t distance but rather time.
Throughout this run, I was keeping my pace steady., nose breathing whenever possible.
The next critical component of training for a personal best time, aside from endurance training, is speedwork.
After this run and a shower, I hopped right into my second meeting.
The reality: not often at all.
And before anyone asks, high volumes of high-intensity training simply aren’t feasible.
Not for you, not for me, not for world record-breaking marathoner Eliud Kipchoge.
It’s a great way to burn yourself out in a couple of weeks.
“Nobody has a stopwatch but me,” I always venture to tell myself.
Getting this dopamine boost and some brief exposure to fresh air helped me feel astronomically more motivated.
For the longest time, I refused to let myself believe it.
All of that could have been avoided if I had listened to my body sooner.
On Thursday, I woke up feeling truly terrible.
Whatever it was, it knocked me for a loop.
Recovery is more important than a lot of novice athletes may realize.
Teenage bike racer Adam learned that the hard way.
At the end of this day, I felt far better than I had when I woke up.
That said, I wanted some miles today because I was feeling sluggish when I woke up.
Natural breaks, I call them.
We can’t demand perfection from ourselves, especially in a context as unpredictable as athletics.
I was just happy to spend another day outside while the sun was shining.
I have plenty of writing to get done today (including this very article!
Overall reflections
Running during the day isn’t novel to me.
That said, I did most of that training while working at the office of… a running magazine.
In other words, it was pretty much my job to run.
Now, I have a lot more priorities to navigate.
Avoiding staying indoors all day is certainly one of them.
To that end, I feel like I have accomplished a noble goal this past week.
I’m spending my time far more fruitfully than I would be commuting in my car.
I like to keep mine on the futon next to my desk.
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