As it's Saturday, it's time for the end-of-the-challenge report. I was able to beat my previous fastest time for the mile.
Nov 27 - 9:07
April 17 - 8:48
April 23 - 8:21
April 24 - 8:17
And just to compare, it would take me roughly 38 mins to swim 1mile, but I have never tried for speed :)
So this challenge was supposed to be for a week. I had to run 1mile as fast as I could (on a treadmill - cheating?!) everyday for five days. I knew it was a silly idea... I mean, running ALL-OUT is hard in itself. If your muscles don't hurt, you're probably doing it wrong. If you don't hurt or feel terrible afterwards you were definitely not going hard enough. And 2 days into the challenge I realised that I was hurting. My knees were definitely feeling the increased pounding and my muscles were tired. I wasn't pushing myself as hard as I could - I finished that last 8:17 knowing I could do more, but not wanting to. The fact that I was able to improve so much over such a short period of time shows that my body CAN do it, but it's my mind that's telling me that it hurts... it's not important... if you stop you'll feel so much better.... why do you even need to go fast?!
So through this I've learned a few things:
I want to do a real timed mile at the track in May. It will be approx two weeks from now, before my trip. I'll update on here whenever it happens :)
I went for a 20minute Vibram run on Thursday and my legs are just killing me now... I was also dumb enough to sign up for a 5k that is one hour away from my house via bike. So I will bike 1 hour to get there, run for a 1/2 hour, and bike 1hour back. Then I will round up the day by sitting in a bus for 2 hours, as I'm going to London to visit the boyfriend.
I never claimed to be sensible, or to think things through well :)
Nov 27 - 9:07
April 17 - 8:48
April 23 - 8:21
April 24 - 8:17
And just to compare, it would take me roughly 38 mins to swim 1mile, but I have never tried for speed :)
So this challenge was supposed to be for a week. I had to run 1mile as fast as I could (on a treadmill - cheating?!) everyday for five days. I knew it was a silly idea... I mean, running ALL-OUT is hard in itself. If your muscles don't hurt, you're probably doing it wrong. If you don't hurt or feel terrible afterwards you were definitely not going hard enough. And 2 days into the challenge I realised that I was hurting. My knees were definitely feeling the increased pounding and my muscles were tired. I wasn't pushing myself as hard as I could - I finished that last 8:17 knowing I could do more, but not wanting to. The fact that I was able to improve so much over such a short period of time shows that my body CAN do it, but it's my mind that's telling me that it hurts... it's not important... if you stop you'll feel so much better.... why do you even need to go fast?!
So through this I've learned a few things:
- I'm faster than my friends, as none of them run!
- I can improve my mile time, but this is not the way to do it.
- Speed - stronger impact - more knee pain. I was smart to back off, so I'm not sorry I stopped the challenge.
- I can absolutely do a sub 8-minute mile, and I WILL!
- It's a fun way to challenge myself and I will try again in the future.
I want to do a real timed mile at the track in May. It will be approx two weeks from now, before my trip. I'll update on here whenever it happens :)
I went for a 20minute Vibram run on Thursday and my legs are just killing me now... I was also dumb enough to sign up for a 5k that is one hour away from my house via bike. So I will bike 1 hour to get there, run for a 1/2 hour, and bike 1hour back. Then I will round up the day by sitting in a bus for 2 hours, as I'm going to London to visit the boyfriend.
I never claimed to be sensible, or to think things through well :)
Yes, this way is probably not the best way to increase speed (things like fartleks or something). But I know it's good to know you can do a faster mile.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I'm in my early 30s. Does that mean you won't run with an old timer?