How fast should you run when you’re just starting out?
Frankly, I had no idea.
My first thought was simply to beat my previous time but not to beat myself up if I didn’t. I figured if I ran or exercised in some way every day, then that was always going to be better than not exercising at all.
On April 17 I pledged I would exercise (run) every day for 21 days. I’ve pretty much kept to that and added swimming as an exercise.
I didn’t know I might have been overtraining.
I didn’t know I might have been running too fast.
But not knowing gave me permission to do what I wanted to do.
In the end, I might have made more progress through that same ignorance.
Sure you need a plan. You need goals. And you need to heed good advice.
But you also need to stretch your horizons, seek tough goals, dig deep and then … dig deeper!
The one thing I fear is failing. If I miss a day, it motivates me to do something the next day. I have to keep going and hit my goal weight of 76kg. I’m almost half way there, too.
I’ve made more progress through ignorance, in this case, than I might have had I read more. I’m not saying I’m right and I’m not suggesting people follow any poor example I might set.
BUT …
But sometimes (sometimes) the ‘truth’ is the best thing you can be ignorant of.
Eat Better, Move More … and remember NOT to think about it too much, just do it!
Bill
Tags: Goals2 Comments
2 responses so far ↓
I started off like this as well. I think I had and have a lot more weight to lose than you do so I started a bit slower. I wanted to beat my PR every time I went to train.
I started reading the running ahead forums and the more experienced runners warned me that I was heading for injury doing that. The key to increasing speed is actually running further and slower. Since doing that my race pace has definitely improved.
Good point Andrew. I think I’ll end up being content just by exercising almost every day. In the end, the weight has to stop coming off once I hit my goal and then it’s maintenance time.
Just keep putting one foot in front of the other!