The article above is one I found by chance, but it's one of the best articles I've read in a while. Weldon Johnson was a self-described "mediocre" runner in college, but has improved a lot since then and is now running a ridiculous 28:06 10k. In the article he reflects on why he was not as successful in college, and the changes he's made since to become such a great competitive runner. I found many of his ideas useful. I especially liked this part:
"...there are not bonus points for running "hard." The point is to run fast. There is a difference. Don't forget that. Too many people confuse "hard" with fast. The next time you see Bernard Lagat running, tell me how "hard" it looks like he's running. And if you are running "hard" on all your runs and all your intervals, you will never teach your body to relax while running fast which is the key to running even faster."I feel like lately I've been a lot more concerned with my pace than I have been in the past. I feel like if I'm not training consistently at a certain pace then I'm not going to get any faster, which is completely the opposite of what Johnson is saying in the article. His argument is that because running is primarily an aerobic activity, the longer (in terms of distance) and the more consistently (in terms of time - months/years/etc) we run, the faster we get over time. I like and support this idea, because I often feel like the excess speedwork my high school coach had me do wasn't really helping me to improve. I felt like I got so much more out of the longer distance runs we'd do.
I'm curious to see where I go with my summer running, in relation to the advice in this article. I know I want to up the mileage, in a reasonable way, of course. I'm excited for summer training, but more so for next cross country season. I'm going to miss all my running buddies while I'm home for the summer! Who will I run to get ice cream with? Play "yellow car" with? Memorize street names, make TOP 3 lists, and collect strange items with? It's no fun by myself...
2 comments:
That article is one of my favorites. It's all very good advice. If running 14:30 is college is considered "sucking," that's depressing for me. But everything is relative haha.
It's sad that you are going to be running all alone this summer! Do the girls from your high school team not run anymore? I have a few people to run with, but will probably end up doing most of my runs alone because of my work schedule. Sometimes I don't mind though.
I have a couple people I run with over the summer, but its usually not very consistent. It's so much easier at college because during the offseason a few of my friends and I would still meet at the same time everyday to run. And I absolutely hate running in the heat... it sucks!
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