It has been a very educational and fabulous read! I've tried to order books on interlibrary loan on the topic of running, including one very highly recommended by my sister-in-law, Teresa, the "Chi of Running," and the books have been unavailable. So this read was perfect timing!
A fabulous article, called The 5K Puzzle, has me all charged up again with a whole new perspective. After reading the article for the fourth time, I am certain that my burnout has everything to do with working too hard! Too hard? Yup! Too hard! I'm a tough coach when it comes to coaching myself to run! LOL I drive myself for improvement and focus on mileage for the training log! But I'm a changed self coach and will refer to this article all the way up to race time! It has reminded me that the reason we run is for fun.... duh! I kinda forgot that part! It is full of guidelines for improvement without over doing and ruining the efforts made to improve pace, endurance, stride, efficiency and even recovery!
So there it is! Goodbye burnout! Hello fun! And today was fun!! Tuesday was a medium run, which, as a beginner, the short, medium and long runs will not vary greatly yet. So I decided this means that my long run is likely my hilly road run - I can accomplish it in around 40 minutes. My short run is likely about a mile and a half, roughly 15 minutes (a tad over that because I'm really slow!)- I can run that and still have plenty "gas in the tank," so my medium run is going to be somewhere in between and so I aimed for a 30 minute run (note the focus on time, not distance - see, the article is already working for me!). I tried to aim for more level terrain - it was a beautiful morning!! Found some, but still, not much!
Going Up! Up! Up!
Running through one of our hayfields towards Joe's house - isn't the Amish Saltbox Style architecture so neat?
My running buddy - she can't run on the highway with me, but she can run around the farm with me!!
Much better! Level ground! But check out all of the pruning that still needs to happen!
Running up through the hayfield to the north side of the orchard - up! up! up!
Ah - level for a teensy bit with a lovely lift in a short bit!
I can handle this one!! Down! We call this The Fairway - I'd be lying if I said we've never considered a driving a golf ball down that direction!
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
- a chinese proverb
2 comments:
I think about how running is supposed to be "fun" every time I have to get up at 5 a.m. - NOT fun. Your "level" ground looks a bit lumpy to me - be careful. Oh, and when the orchard is in bloom, just think how great it will be to run through. I love blossoms! There's a paved track next to our cemetery that is lined with flowering plum trees. Going around and around a track is pretty boring to me, but in the spring time I get to smile at the blossoms for at least that half of the track. Keep it up - don't get discouraged - wish I could run with you - you live in an amazing part of the country - enjoy the view!
You're an inspiration!
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