Saturday, June 4, 2011

Today’s bad-good one hour run

The longish unintended break has taken its toll as has the eating at weddings. Ran the 9k circuit around the lake this morning after a long time and was struggling after around 45 minutes, feeling terribly out of shape. That I was listening to a very depressing This American Life podcast on job creation did not help.

So, after the podcast finished, tried to put some positive thoughts in my mind. Put on some music, thought about Justin Sandercoe running the Bupa and thought about writing this blog. At the same time, cut my seven minute running stretches to five minutes and was soon running at a respectable clip. Mainly it was the beat of the music that helped increase the pace but thinking positive certainly helps. In fact, there was a 3-4 minute burst where I was really in the zone – running pretty fast, minimal body movements, determined and focused concentration and a very regular breathing. The spell broke the moment I realized that I was in the zone! Finished the run in about 65 minutes; not bad given that my fastest here has been around 60 mins.

I need to get more training done this week if I really want to finish my full marathon in January. I should be attempting a 3.5 hour run soon and being in shape to last the time itself is a big challenge. My shoes are breaking in well and I am looking forward to the long run soon. Over time this 3.5 hour run will give way to a 4 hour run, then 4.5 and then 5 hours. By October or November I should be running 5.5 hours and training to increase the running speed at the same time if I am to finish the marathon five and a half hours.

Long way to go Brajesh…