How to Speed
That title is my subtle nod to the glorious Sarah Cooper (see ‘How to Medical’ here).
Something I’ve been doing lately in my runs is stopping about half way through. Some two or three miles in, starting to settle in, and just put on the brakes.
This reminds me of my first few weeks of running with the couch to 5K app; run a bit, then rest.
When racing, I take my time at the water stations. Made sure to thank the volunteers. Do some people watching. Toss my cup in the proper trash bag.
Those stops are similar to sleeping, except we’re awake. Kinda. We’re up all day, then we rest, which leads to the next day.
Every stop is recovery for the next bout of running.
That’s how speed training works, pretty much. You intentionally go out fast, for a certain amount of time, maybe about 90 seconds, then rest for 60.
When you chain a few of those together, say six times, once a week or something, you can get faster.
The 90s seconds (or 60, or 30) is your sampling of pain and discomfort that come with a fast effort. Then somehow, in a real race, you maintain those efforts for a mile or two or three.
The discomfort of running hard doesn’t just go away. Mentally you get better at putting that pain and discomfort somewhere.
Now, the Soft Run isn’t about pain and discomfort, but about the recovery, the slowness, the joy.
See, those 60 seconds of recovery, or slowness, even walking, is just as important as the running really hard part. There’s two parts of running; effort, then recovery.
Early on in your running journey, ever run feels like a massive effort. A half mile feels like a marathon. Hills look like mountains. The weather is always “too much” either way.
But then you get the glorious recovery. The feeling of accomplishment, of action, of doing something hard for the day.
So when you’re out of breath, slow down. Recover. Tearing down your body isn’t helpful when it needs rest.
You’re not failing, you’re recovering.
And slow just means more times outside, not looking at your computer, or reading emails.
Send me your slowest mile this week. Seriously. Shoot me an email (hi@sethw.com) of your most laid back, chilled, not-struggling to breathe pace. Walk. Shuffle. Whatever. Find that glorious “cosmic shuffle,” and get through the week alive.
Some good running newsletters I subscribe to:
The Morning Shakeout by Mario Fraioli
Also:
“Getting people in the right equipment changes the entire game for them and suddenly, they can go out and start to add extra miles on, start building things up, and maybe get involved in a training plan. It starts with the right gear,” from ‘Why New Runners Should Visit the Running Shop’ at Podium Runner.