Just slow down – RunningWell

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all had a great long weekend and were able to spend time outside and with family. I don’t think anyone from this crew raced anything this past weekend, but correct me if I’m wrong. Coming up we have Ottawa! Kerry in the half and Fran and Gillian in the full. Sending all our collective energy your way!

I’ve been thinking lately about big, long undertakings. Especially as I try to increase my time biking in preparation for this Ironman. One thing my training partners and I have repeated to ourselves is this: if it feels too hard at any point, slow down. It’s amazing how calming and reassuring this statement is to me. You can just slow down! We all know how to push hard and go fast and make it hurt. And it’s good to know we have this gear. But we don’t always have to use it. In fact, in most events until the very end, and in at least 80-85% of training, we shouldn’t be touching it. I find it funny that I need to remind myself that I have permission to slow down, but just telling myself this makes me feel relaxed and like I can complete what I set out to do.

I’ve even started using this in other areas. Sometimes I take a look at my to-do list and feel such a sense of overwhelm that I just start unproductively flitting back and forth between frantic things. Sure, I can try to whip through everything at hyper-speed, but just the thought of that burns me out. So I tell myself to take a deep breath, and give myself permission to move slowly and accomplish one thing. Everything doesn’t have to feel hard. I can slow down and take my time and get it done. It is amazing how just this mentality can give you breathing room and energy. For me anyway. Maybe most of you have caught on to this long ago! I am newly embracing it though. Slow is way better than “all out or nothing”. Just keep moving. It’ll get you there.

On to tomorrow’s workout – back to Leslie and Lakeshore – 6:05 for drills, 6:15 Go time.

1 mile tempo, 3 min rest, 4 x 400 w 1 min rest, 3 min rest, 4 x 400 w 1:30 rest, 3 min rest 2-4 x 200 w 1 min rest

This is a classic track workout. It’s pointing at 5K fitness, so not particularly slow. The key is the rest. It’s broken up so you can hit your times without over-extending too much. In a track workout like this, the rest interval will tell you a lot. When we give the workout to our competitive track crew, it is the rest that tells them how fast to go. Sometimes we even say 7 minutes rest before something. That doesn’t mean we are being super generous and nice. It means that next thing is supposed to be pretty damn hard and we want you recovered for it. Don’t worry – we’re not doing this at this point! But just letting you know that the longer rest in the second set implies that you pick it up a few seconds per 400.

I get that this workout doesn’t really follow the theme of my email, but in order to slow down you have to have a faster baseline which you touch sometimes. You can’t slow down from standing still.

If racing in Ottawa, sleep in if it will serve you better! If up and want company, 1 mile at race pace, then 4 x 400 just a tad quicker but not over-extending.

That is all – see you in the am!

Seanna