Yesterday my training schedule was a 30-minute tempo run. A tempo run, as defined by Hal Higdon in his website is, ” a continuous run with a buildup in the middle to near 10-K race pace. A tempo run of 30 to 40 minutes would begin with 10-15 minutes easy running, build to peak speed during the next 10-20 minutes, then finish with 5-10 minutes easy running. ”
This was how I planned to do my tempo run for today. I would do a 10-15 minutes warm up, then 30 minutes of tempo run in the treadmill with zero incline and speed set at 6.9 MPH (5:24 mins/km) and then another 10-15 minutes of cooldown.
And now this was what has happened. I did a 12 minutes warm up. Then I ran at 6.9mph. Eight minutes into my tempo run I began feeling pain and tightness on my right calf. I push through until I reached 10 minutes then I lowered the speed to 6.5 mph. It was a welcome-to-the-gind-kind of run for me because I had to run through the pain. As Scott Jurek, said in his book eat and run, “let the pain go out of your ears”. And I did. I run through the pain and it eased bit by bit. At 27 minutes I resumed the 6.9 mph speed and at the last minute I upped it to 7.8 mph.I did a cool down for four minutes. After running I did my usual fitness combo of pilates followed by foam rolling and ended by 3sets each of kettlebell swings and kettlebell deadlifts.
The passage below is not mine. 🙂 this is from a Nike video that I’ve watched from youtube (watch it! Search Nike rise and shine). I listen to the audio version of this before I run, it’s on my alarm, before a race, and anytime I feel like I’m going to quit. It sums up what it takes to enter the grind. It isn’t going to be easy. Training is hard. It takes a lot of discipline. And even a well planned route has detours. Quitting is always looming. But the trick is to persist… to not quit…to keep going when it gets tough. 🙂
Read on.
“Rise and shine.
6am and your hand can’t make it to the alarm clock before the voices in your head start telling you that it’s too early, too dark, and too cold to get out of a bed. Aching muscles lie still in rebellion, pretending not to hear your brain commanding them to move.A legion of voices are shouting their unanimous permission for you to hit the snooze button and go back to dreamland, but you didn’t ask their opinion. The voice you’ve chosen to listen to is one of defiance. A voice that’s says there was a reason you set that alarm in the first place. So sit up, put your feet on the floor, and don’t look back because we’ve got work to do.
Welcome to The Grind!
For what is each day but a series of conflicts between the right way and the easy way. 10,000 streams fan out like a river delta before you. Each one promising the path of least resistance. Thing is, you’re headed upstream
And when you make that choice, when you decide to turn your back on what’s comfortable and what’s safe and what some would call “common sense”, well that’s day 1. From there it only gets tougher.
So just make sure this is something you want. Because the easy way out will always be there, ready to wash you away, all you have to do is pick up your feet.
But you aren’t going to are you? With each step comes the decision to take another. You’re on your way now. But this is no time to dwell on how far you’ve come.
You’re in a fight against an opponent you can’t see. Oh but you can feel him on your heels can’t you? Feel him breathing down your neck. You know what that is?
That’s you…
Your fears, your doubts and insecurities all lined up like a firing squad ready to shoot you out of the sky. But don’t lose heart while they aren’t easily defeated. They are far from invincible
Remember this is The Grind.
The battle royale between you and your mind, your body and the devil on your shoulder who’s telling you that this is just a game, this is just a waste of time, your opponents are stronger than you. Drown out the voice of uncertainty with the sound of your own heartbeat. Burn away your self doubt with the fire that’s beneath you
Remember what you’re fighting for and never forget that momentum is a cruel mistress. She can turn on a dime with the smallest mistake.She is ever searching for that weak place in your armor that one tiny thing you forgot to prepare for.
So as long as the devil is hiding the details, the question remains,”is that all you got?”, “are you sure?”
And when the answer is “yes”. That you’ve done all you can to prepare yourself for battle then it’s time to go forth and boldly face your enemy, the enemy within
Only now you must take that fight into the open, into hostile territory.You’re a lion in a field of lions. All hunting the same elusive prey with a desperate starvation that says victory is the only thing that can keep you alive. So believe that voice that says “you can run a little faster” and that “you can throw a little harder” and that, for you, the laws of physics are merely a suggestion.
Luck is the last dying wish of those who wanna believe that winning can happen by accident, sweat on the other hand is for those who know it’s a choice, so decide now because destiny waits for no man.
And when your time comes and a thousand different voices are trying to tell you you’re not ready for it, listen instead for that lone voice of decent the one that says you are ready, you are prepared, it’s all up to you now,
So rise and shine.”
(Astig no?)
I hope reading this motivates you. Motivation is like coffee. Do it daily. As Zig Ziglar said “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” 🙂
Finally, I was reviewing in my mind what my training run would be for tomorrow before I realized that Friday was rest day. Yay 🙂
Run for your life 🙂
Atalanta On the Run 