The Mysteries of Running

As a gymnast, I practiced my tumbling, dance, and acrobatics daily. By the time competition came, I had rehearsed my routines hundreds of times.

When I was learning the two-handed backhand in tennis, I rented a ball machine and hit hundreds of backhands until I got it.

But in distance running, we never practice our races until we “get it.” Training at race pace for race distance is just not done. Instead, runners train by stressing all the different systems we need to enhance in order to perform at goal race pace. We do easy runs to enhance aerobic capacity. We do tempo runs to push back lactic threshold. We do intervals to increase VO2 max.

When I started this training cycle, I thought running for 90 minutes at a 6:50 pace was insane. And now I believe it is achievable.

Still, it is a mystery to me how 12 weeks of training will come together to produce a 1:30 half marathon on Sunday.  

But I already know I want to be faster.

two little runners (Kristen)