With all the snow we’ve been getting here, you would think I’d be referring to something like this…
What I’m really talking about is keeping your hard runs hard and your easy runs easy or polarization. It seems like a simple concept buts its quite hard to achieve. I find it most difficult once I get about half way through a program, I am beginning to get more comfortable, improving my form and feeling more in shape. Then I start noticing that on my easy runs I tend to get out there and think “I should be running harder”. Instead of just enjoying the slower pace and allowing my body to recover. Then on my hard runs, I would have a hard time pushing myself because I was tired from the other runs I was running too fast. I hear this is a common problem with runners.
This is an issue in all parts of life. We as humans tends to gravitate towards the easy road. Its much easier to do something that we know we can achieve a positive result then attempt something that is unknown and possibly face failure while doing so. Runners are no different, your body wants you to run at a comfortable pace. It screams at you to slow down when you are pushing the limits. Its good to remember that 75% of your runs should be at an easy pace, 10% tempo and 15% hard effort. My goal is to continually remind myself prior to a run what I am trying to achieve with the run; recovery, speed, cardio, distance.
I am off to tackle a base building run at 10k pace. Oops…I guess I’m allowed to be comfortable during my base building weeks.
Keep on moving,
JA
RunCanadaRun 