Having not run for a month...

I realise what I need to do. To be in the gym. And, in doing so, to do a bare minimum. And, in doing a bare minimum, to be doing something.

My last exercise was the hardest ever interval training I have done in the gym. That, and my flirtation with the personal trainer, have both perhaps conspired to my recent procrastination. That, and the fact that I have not been sure that I have gym kit to take with me. All I need are:

2-3 t-shirts.
shorts.
shoes.

That is all I need. And that is what I will have.

I am performance based in my running, but that is not really why I run. I like running because I like the feeling of running fast. However, I do not think that I am ready yet to turn away performances.

There is something to say today about performances in running, and training. While I can push myself hard, my body is soft. My bones, although recently strengthened, can be weak. And, because they are weak, they are are susceptible to injury. So, being susceptible to injury, I loathe to run too much. Instead cross-training is my gig.

With this in my mind, I say that a friend was recently injured, having been in the best form of their life. I have to say that I think I do not have enough desire to beat times to injure myself. However, one injury I do carry now are blood blisters under my feet, not least thanks to football. In fact, my feet are generally quite poor in condition. Is there anything I can do about this?

Something else is this: I worked out well in the holidays because:

a) It was warm.
b) I needed to moved my car at 12:00pm, which meant I went to the gym on a daily basis.
c) I had the energy, food and time.

And now? I need to go to the gym after school. Recent things that have stopped me from doing this are:

a) Snow.
b) Not having organised my gym kit before.
c) Feeling that I am too busy in the evenings, inasmuch as I do not like eating late, and doing computer games late too. Although I may have to twice a week.

I think that clearing out the cobwebs with some easy sessions over the next two weeks. Nothing intense - just keeping things turning.

Running aims

I am, in some ways, performance driven. But I am a man who believes in moderation. That is, while I want to improve my times and the like, I am not willing to make massive sacrifices. It is not a means to an end in itself. Not least because I am not good enough for it.

I have an aim - to run below 18 minutes for the 5k, and to run below 40 minutes for the 10k. When those things happen, then what? Who is there to share the achievement? I know that this is not normally the reason for my running, and you, my faceless reader, should be enough of an audience for such a things.

The reality of this is this. I have not trained for a few days. Words and reflections and records and aims fall away in the face of the now, that I have not run, and that I have happily slept instead.

Such waves of life are like waves of running - not always is the desire to be fast in a race.

A 5k under 19 minutes

And so with training and discipline I find myself having happily run a sub 19 minute 5k. In doing so, I feel proud and distinctly aware of my achievement.

The race itself was characterised by my controlled (slow) start. I tried to keep slow. Mu first 400m was fast, as it always will be. However, my slow start meant that I was able to keep controlled. Some runners were ahead of me. However, they must have slowed. And, when I came to the final km, I was able to increase my speed to the point where I was running fast - a 3:47km.

My watch said 18:57. My watch says 18:51. The timer said 18:59. A clear run, I say.

Significantly, I was behind the second and third place for most of the race. It was only in the past half-kilometre or so that saw me move towards them, pass them, and push onwards. It was my desire to run faster than 19:00 that allowed me to do this. And what else? What else do I want to do?

I want to run fast. I want to slowly improve my 5k and 10k times second by second. I want to strengthen my legs until my times are pushed down, and I am running fast as I should. I want to pull down my mile time, and see how far I can push down my 5k time. Because, frankly, I can run fast.

Are there people whom I want to run faster than? Their ghosts run, but it how my spirit is inspired, or fired, or dismayed, that matters more than that.

Thursday after the 10k

I ran a minute faster than I did before. I ran the second 5k in 20:30. I need to be able to run the second 5k faster than 20:00. To do this I need to be able to run a 5k faster than 19 minutes.

I clearly run best with a chip on my shoulder. The finiteness belies the patience I have shown in my training. No shin splints has this man; the spirit needs to be tempted by the mind. Don't run as much as you want - run as much as you can.

In both of my 5k runs so far, I have been able to run with sub 19 minute time (sub 6:25 second miles). However, it only takes 1200 metres or so of running a few seconds over to ruin it. Therefore, with this in mind, I intend to run the first ten minutes at 6:25, and to only speed up afterwards. I hope to not drop below this speed. And I look forward to seeing how my fitness goes. Will it work?

Of course, there are motivations elsewhere, and separate times to beat. And beat is the right word, too.