Run Away...

Finished the 6 week running program I was doing today. 

My goal was to be able to run faster without feeling totally gassed at the end of 30 minutes. 

When I started I thought I'd aim for 5 or 5.3 MPH and I was doing pretty well with that for the first couple weeks then the trainer took a GIANT leap in time running in the intervals and I realized that 5.3 was out of the question. Then he took another GIANT leap and I backed off again to 4.8 for the last bit. Still faster than I was running so it counts. 

Yesterday (the last growth workout session) I ran for 30 minutes at 4.8 and had enough left in the tank for a 20 minute interval run. When I did the 5K test I toggled between 4.6 and 5.0 and was completely gassed at the end. So even though my top speed was higher last time, I ran consistently at one speed this time that was higher than my bottom speed and I could keep going so I'm counting it as a win. 

I think that I will always prefer intervals over just straight running at one speed. I like the variety to at least have something that doesn't feel super boring. I'm also just never going to be super fast and that's okay. 

Other random thoughts during these weeks...

Knox Robinson (a different trainer with iFit) said in one workout I did that you don't know how far you can go until you go there. And I repeated that or a version of it to myself over and over during this series. "You don't know if you can run this long at this speed because you haven't yet." Sort of a don't give up mantra without stressing the giving up portion. 

And then on a variation of it during this cycle Tommy Rivs was running on the coast and by a lighthouse. He was talking about how the need for the lighthouses comes from someone going too far. From someone crashing into the rocks in an unknown location. If you just stay where you were you would never need the lighthouse. But because that one person, or handful of people, ventured out and crashed, now there are lighthouses to mark the way. 

Which on one hand seems like a reason to not try new things. I mean, the people that stuck to their own shorelines didn't sink. But when you look broader at it, if it weren't for the people willing to crash, the rest of us wouldn't have safe passage. We need to have those that are willing to stick their necks out, to take the risks, to mark the paths. Or nothing ever changes. 

And the last one was at the beginning of this week Rivs started talking about how this wasn't the end of the program. It was the week to prepare for the next thing. This goal was in site so it was time to pick a new goal. And part of me was like, Dude! Let's finish this one first! Come on! And the other part was like...well sure if you wanted to wait until this week, I mean I set up my next cycle of programs over the weekend so...

Yeah, the dichotomy of me... Enjoy the end of one program! Nope, NEXT! Time to find the next thing! 

But he did make a good point, as far as fitness goes. It's never a one and done goal. It's always a building thing. I wanted to run a 5K. Then I figured out I wanted to run faster than I was, and also not be totally gassed doing it. Which I figured out during that cycle that the not gassed part was the most important part of the equation for me. Now I want to figure out a good interval pace to be able to run without being totally bored. I'm sure while I'm doing that I'll find something else that I will want to focus on. 

I would much rather there was a magic number I could hit that would mean I don't ever have to work out again, though. Just being honest, even with finding things to work toward, and turning it into goals and games, I just don't like working out. I wish there was a level you reached and then you could be done and yet always stay that fit forever. 

But since there isn't I will start a new cycle on Monday. Right now it will either be a running series with Casey Gilbert or the last of the Rivs Road to Recovery cycle, depending on if iFit releases that one over the weekend or not, they've been advertising that it's coming for awhile. And I'll also do their September Challenge, gotta love that they have monthly challenges as well. Gamify it. That works for me. 

But today I am done with this six week cycle. Gold star!