Changing My Running Mindset

in #exhaust6 years ago

I just finished a 5.62km run that lasted about 0hh:26mm:45ss !

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One of my goals for 2019 was to get some of my running speed back. I am not sure I will be able to get back to running personal bests over 5km and 10km races, but I would love to get a little close to some of those speeds. I ran a 19 minute 5km race on my 39th birthday which was just under two years ago, and that would be pretty sweet if I could get back to those speeds again. It's not a complete loss, even though I have had some injury issues, a lot of my slow down is partly due to training for longer races and with PB's in my half marathon, marathon and 50km races, so I am not complaining, I am just cutting my training back a little, so wanting to back to speed development, instead.

Thinking back to where I was with my training a couple of years ago(maybe about 5 years ago) I was training a little differently, and I am trying to replicate this to get my speed back a little. I realized my training was different in the following ways:

  • I was not training as much as I do now
  • I started my gym sessions with the rowing ergometer
  • I was adding strength work to my weekly training
  • I was doing hill repeats once a week
  • I was doing double run sessions a few times a week
  • I was doing a weekly 5km time trial
  • I had a different mindset- I Believed I Was Fast!

All of these things came together to give me three things:

  • I ran a 17.55 5km
  • I ran a 38:40 10km
  • I got injured

And pretty badly injured where I was suffering from sciatica for about 4 years afterwards. It's probably why I am a little apprehensive to get back to where I was, but wearily I am, and I am slowly bringing these aspects back into my training. I am not sure if I need to cut back on my bike riding a little though...Will see how it effects me. But I think the main issue I need to get to terms with is my mindset. I think I always believed I was fast but at the moment, I am not so sure and it's clear with my training. I don't push as hard as what I probably should during my runs, and I haven't had the confidence to do a 5km time trail yet. I have been wanting to get to my local Park Run, and instead I have been pretending I slept through my alarm or something like that.

So that's going to change right now. I am no longer defining myself as a slow runner. As a result my run today was a 4km time trial after a 1km warm up. My last kilometer saw me slow down a little but in the past my body did respond to this type of training pretty quickly, so I am optimistic I can get my speed back as long as I can change my mindset.
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I'm crazy psyched when I get down into the 5:20~5:30 range for a 5k these days -- 4:45 is awesome. I would suggest that you can, with confidence, define yourself as fast. It's interesting that you're considering dialing the bike training back, while I"m just getting excited about ramping up (though, the mileage you've done historically in your training is on a different scale).

I'm hoping to get some speed back myself, so I may actually attempt to structure my training a bit in the near term. I did a 10k a few years back in ~48:30 and I'd be fired up to get near that again.

Thanks for that Mark...Still want to keep the bike training but no Ironman races on the horizon so don't need to be putting in huge kilometers in. Still looking for that magic formula, but look like it needs to be hard work.

You have uploaded 71 running activities, and 16 of them have been of similar distances (within 10 percent)!
Here are your 5-fastest running activities of a similar distance:

  • Auckland Marathon Sunday Racing - 5.244km @ 4:14 min/km pace.
  • Park Run Washed Out - 6.118km @ 4:38 min/km pace.
  • Changing My Running Mindset - 5.62km @ 4:45 min/km pace.
  • 5km Lunch Run - 5.063km @ 4:53 min/km pace.
  • Lunch Run At Work - 6.095km @ 4:58 min/km pace.

Over these 16 similar activities, you have travelled approximately 87.74 kms at an average pace of roughly 5:19 min/km!

Looks like you went a bit faster than usual this time! Nice work!

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Hope your knees are still fine :)

Its recovered well thanks

Dude! This time is so good!!

I completely agree that mindset is key... my speed changes so much depending on how I'm feeling, it's so weird.