Everything started Friday, the 23rd of January. Vladimir and I went for a run. One lap of the Greenland Docks seemed like such a long distance. We started at a pretty fast pace that, by the end of the run, had got even faster. I never paid any attention to the distance or the time it took us to complete a lap.
The book said that before starting the official training, one must be able to run non-stop for 30 minutes. Let’s try that, I thought. 30 minutes of running ended-up being 2 laps of the Greenland docks, about 3 miles. It felt pretty hardcore. I had not run in over a year.
Yet having got that out of the way, I felt a lot more confident in my capabilities. Sure enough, I did the runs of the week feeling better and better, both physically and psychologically. The first run was 3 miles, the second 4 miles, the third 3 miles and the fourth 5 miles. I had never run 5 miles in my life. And the truth is, it’s easier than I thought.
You seem to learn a lot about yourself and about your body in just a few runs.
You feel like competing, especially if you run alongside somebody. You tend to run faster and faster and miss the point of all this. Running alongside somebody is great for motivation, but you should forget about competing and your ego. The purpose is to do your runs as planned, to finish them feeling good consistently. You’re not supposed to burn not so that your ego feels good.
After a mile or so, you enter a state of flow, where everything just happens. You’re on autopilot, nothings hurts and nothing requires conscious effort. You just run and not think about it at all. And somehow you get tired a lot less than during the first lap.
The right equipment is important: shoes, t-shirt, socks. Maybe a wind-proof jacket. Not carrying a watch also makes sense. In a training like this it’s the consistency that matters. Finishing your runs every time you’re supposed to and doing as many of them as possible is what it’s about.
The First Week Of Training
Everything started Friday, the 23rd of January. Vladimir and I went for a run. One lap of the Greenland Docks seemed like such a long distance. We started at a pretty fast pace that, by the end of the run, had got even faster. I never paid any attention to the distance or the time it took us to complete a lap.
The book said that before starting the official training, one must be able to run non-stop for 30 minutes. Let’s try that, I thought. 30 minutes of running ended-up being 2 laps of the Greenland docks, about 3 miles. It felt pretty hardcore. I had not run in over a year.
Yet having got that out of the way, I felt a lot more confident in my capabilities. Sure enough, I did the runs of the week feeling better and better, both physically and psychologically. The first run was 3 miles, the second 4 miles, the third 3 miles and the fourth 5 miles. I had never run 5 miles in my life. And the truth is, it’s easier than I thought.
You seem to learn a lot about yourself and about your body in just a few runs.
You feel like competing, especially if you run alongside somebody. You tend to run faster and faster and miss the point of all this. Running alongside somebody is great for motivation, but you should forget about competing and your ego. The purpose is to do your runs as planned, to finish them feeling good consistently. You’re not supposed to burn not so that your ego feels good.
After a mile or so, you enter a state of flow, where everything just happens. You’re on autopilot, nothings hurts and nothing requires conscious effort. You just run and not think about it at all. And somehow you get tired a lot less than during the first lap.
The right equipment is important: shoes, t-shirt, socks. Maybe a wind-proof jacket. Not carrying a watch also makes sense. In a training like this it’s the consistency that matters. Finishing your runs every time you’re supposed to and doing as many of them as possible is what it’s about.