Last night Shannon kept me running a good steady pace for 10 miles. We were talking the whole time and I averaged 8:17 a mile.
What that tells me is that I'm not pushing myself hard enough when I run alone. I thought I wasn't capable of running that pace for 10 miles, much less being able to talk through it.
So it's not that I don't have the fitness, it's that I don't have the leg turnover. I haven't made my legs go fast for so long that 8 minute pace feels hard, not aerobically hard, but in terms of making my legs do the work.
The only solution to that is to get back to running faster and doing intervals, and probably adding back some half marathons, marathons, maybe even a few 10Ks and 5Ks.
As much as I hate to deal with those types of races (I have every excuse in the book not to do them) expensive, crowded, early in the morning, sometimes requiring a drive to Denver or longer than that...if I want to regain any of the speed that I know is in there, I have to do the work. Come to Jesus time.
On Sunday my running column in the Xplore section of the Coloradoan featured Shannon and Run to Work Day. He's been making great progress with it already this week, using social media sites to spread the word. It's very exciting, and I'm looking forward to seeing it develop into something really great. Bigger than Bike to Work Day, that's for sure.
Soon I will be doing a full blogpost on Run to Work Day. I think it has a ton of potential, and the biggest stumbling block seems to be access to showers at work for most people. That's one of the things that Shannon is working on...there is no limit when you use your creativity to solve problems. I could go on and on about these things, especially when it comes to the general public and their inertia, but I'll save it for the upcoming blogpost.
Chris at AdventureCorps included a link in today's newsletter to one of my previous columns about making your own adventure run, which I appreciate very much! Thanks Chris! It was about the recent Extreme Running Tour de Walmart.
Now I'm hanging out in the woman cave, watching the lilacs bloom. I hope you're enjoying the spring as much as I am!
4 comments:
Great article in the Coloradoan! I had a self-imposed Facebook moratorium, and I think I'm going back to it, but looking forward to more articles!
Responses are pretty much the same, year-over-year, on Bike to Work Day as well: lots o' Real Important Folks that -need- to drive around all day, use the cell phone, and can't imagine changing clothes during the day. It feels like a broken record every year.
(But, I have used Bike to Work Day as a Run to Work day the last few years -- free food!)
Did I see both you on Shannon on south Power Trail last night? Sorry if I didn't recognize you both, but you seemed to be making good conversational time! Cheers!
Hey Mike, thanks for the comment, I was going to try to e-mail you but didn't have your e-mail. Yes that was us on Power Trail. I asked Shannon, "Who was that guy?" because I thought I recognized you but couldn't figure out where I'd seen you running before. Now I know!
I think Run to Work Day is a winner. There are lots of people who are capable of making small lifestyle changes, and might have considered it, but maybe just need a little more encouragement, those are the we need to reach out to, in addition to those who are already running.
Cool. BTW, does PVH have employee showers (or is it reasonable to use some of the patient/rehab ones)?
Yes, PVH has a number of places where employees can shower. Almost every nursing department has a shower in it's department breakroom. And then there is the employee gym in the basement that has showers available in the locker room. They get a fair number of people participating in bike to work day, so I think there is potential for run to work day to succeed there.
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