Development of a regular running routine at that time and moving to the weekly Team Myles 2014 training (Citadel Hill on Tuesdays and Point Pleasant Park on Saturdays) in March, supplemented by my own schedule, has paid huge dividends so far.
For those who started following my personal blog in January, you will recall my goal was to finish the 10K in under 70 minutes. (See Living Life: The Woodford Chronicles "Let the race begin" post from January 12, 2014 for full details.)
Quite honestly, I thought that was a long shot. Remember, I am not a runner. It's never been part of my DNA.
But as each week of training passes and I continue to find muscles that I forgot I had, it's getting a whole lot easier to run and run and run and run.
I see the same thing happening with my fellow Team Myles members. Each has their own goal in mind and each will achieve it. Devin Sherrington, our lead trainer/coach/mentor/motivator from 360fit must feel like a proud "Dad" as he sees his "children" growing!
Just over a week ago, I followed the lead of Jeff Nearing and Aaron Legge (work colleagues and Team Myles 2014 Mentors) to do my first "long run". By definition the long run is simply the longest distance run in a regular weekly training schedule. It's meant to be at a slower pace than a normal training run.
I decided to run a full hour on my first long run on Sunday, March 23. Up to that point I was focusing on 30-40 minute runs at higher pace. After a 20 minute Bowflex workout I was feeling in good shape so I jumped on the treadmill, turned on some music videos and started out for the 60 minute run. At the end I had hit 8.76K and was feeling pretty pumped. A little math showed I was within the 10K in under 70 minutes pace and it wasn't really a push - just a steady pace through the entire 60 minutes.
This past Sunday, March 30, my new long run plan was to do the full 10K to start some benchmarking. Need to start getting use to that distance. I was pleasantly surprised to have hit the 10K goal in 65:41 - nearly a full five minutes below my original January goal. And I really wasn't pushing hard. My average heart rate across the full 60 minutes was exactly 140 beats per minute. There's still a lot of gas left in the tank. It's now time to take it for a test drive.
Through my professional career I routinely set stretch goals - those goals that are a little out there and on the verge of being unachievable. Sometimes everything fires on all cylinders and you achieve these stretch goals, even blowing them out of the water. (That's when you get accused of being a sandbagger! Been there.)
Well on Sunday I was feeling like a bit of a sandbagger. It's only been 10 weeks of training. With 47 days until the Blue Nose Marathon 10K race, there's still a lot of room for improvement.
So what happens when you reach your goal early? Well, you set a new one, of course!!
I have always loved this Michelangelo quote:
``The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.``
Certainly words to live by. They have served me will in the last 41 years!
So here goes nothing. My new 10K goal for Blue Nose Marathon 2014 is to run the race in under 55 minutes. It is definitely a stretch, but I will work my butt off to try and achieve it.
Wish me luck, send a few prayers this way - all encouragement welcomed!
Stay tuned for the progress reports. See you at the finish line on May 18.
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