Fitness Update: An update on my recommitment and what you can apply to your own running!

In December, I saw something running related and it was closing in towards the end of the year. I was just taking stock of my personal life- fitness, habits, learning, etc. I was also doing the same thing with coaching and business. It just got me thinking and then I saw a post about giving yourself six months of just putting your head down. I made a list of things I’d like done in six months. Right now is the halfway point of that. You probably came here for the running, so let’s dive in. 

I broke my running into phases. It was never going to line up with the 6 months timeframe, but didn’t need to. What was important was laying the foundation for quality training. To be completely honest, I kept seeing people as old as me doing some incredible things and I was jealous! It made me think there was still something there if I got serious. However, I also had to be realistic. 

For reference, here’s a snapshot of my Strava fitness graph over the last two years because it shows the last time I was in pretty good shape, the point it all went downhill, and the ensuing roller coaster. At my peak, I think that my fitness level was something like 165. What a bummer!

Looking at all of this, I thought that first thing I had to do is get consistent. “Keep showing up has become a tagline over the last few years, but it is a huge part of making whatever else you do a success. That’s true in most life situations. So, I knew I had become soft- making excuses and talking myself out of doing things that I didn’t want to do because it was inconvenient. I had to knock it off. Get out and get something in. Plan ahead. Whatever I needed to do. That’s it. I thought 40 miles a week, I could manage if it were spread out over the week. I have to say though, it was still hard. I had to put my ego aside and just go run a lot slower than I was used to. But, I convinced myself to stick with it. Forget pace, and just put the time in. 

As you can see, looking at the fitness score has increased steadily over the last 12 weeks. How’d it happen? I was just consistent. I out and ran. I was used to running every day, so I focused on just getting out and exercising. I didn’t do workouts other than gradually increasing the length of my runs. I did do two “workouts” of 200’s, just to ease my curiosity. In the last few weeks, I have increased my longest run from 8 to 10 and finally 12 miles. 

Here is a quick look at my beginning volume and where I am now, 12 weeks later. Bringing that volume up to near 60 in 12 weeks was a bit of uncharted territory as I hadn’t been there in a long time, but not worrying about intensity made it much more manageable. For those trying to make bigger increases, this is a key takeaway. Focus on increasing the volume by adding more days, then more to each run. 

Paces: 

Week 1: 8:14/mile average pace (40 miles in 5:29:54)

Week 12: 8:15/mile (57.29 miles in 7:52:24)

This surprised me because, when I first started, I was running in the 9-minute range getting down to low 8’s. I am running more miles in the high 7:00 pace range now. I am not forcing anything right now. We’ll see if this changes as I slow down the rate of volume increase in exchange for a slight addition of a workout during the week. I also would suspect that some of it is because the length of my runs has increased substantially from about 40 minutes to over an hour most days. My endurance might need some time to develop a little more. 

I would say at a quick look, my average heart rate came down a touch. I was averaging low to mid 150’s during the first week. This past week, I had 2-3 runs averaging high 140’s to right at 150. 

I have lost 6-8 pounds without changing my eating habits. I wish it was more, as I am about 25 pounds heavier than I was at my fastest. Not that I ever think (or necessarily want) to be down in the low 140’s again, I think under 155 with some muscle would be good! 

Overall, I would say that phase one was successful. I haven’t had this consistent stretch of running in a long time- literally years. So it’s a really good first step. This coming week, I am going to start narrowing the funnel a little more. By my calculations, I have 14 weeks for phase two. I will still increase my weekly volume, but slow the rise of ascent. If I can get to and maintain 70 miles per week, I feel like that puts me in a good spot. I will also increase my long-run distance, which will be the bulk of the increase. This would be 50%+ of the increase. Don’t worry, it will still keep my long runs in that 25-30% of my weekly volume! I’m also going to add one SOS per week. Nothing crazy. If you’ve followed me, I posted that I did some 200s on the track just to see if I could. I will bump up to 400’s right now. I have a pace I want to be able to run, but I realize I am going to have to start with shorter repeats at roughly that pace and take it as it comes. Would love to get to the point where I am running 1+ mile repeats at that pace. For recovery’s sake, I am thinking of Tuesday for workouts and Friday for the long run. 

Ideally, during phase two, I’ll be able to do some baseline checks. For example, probably tomorrow (I won’t be able to get out Tuesday am) I will do a 6-minute test on the track. In 4-6 weeks, if things are progressing, I think I’d like to do a 5k. Then to close out Phase Two, I’ll do a 10k to see where I am at. Some of this is fluid and I want to focus more on the process than a deadline. If it’s there, great, if not, we’ll just keep plugging away until it is there. 

What you can take away

1. If you have been away from the sport for any length of time, just set one goal. To me, just being consistent is a great place to start. It takes a lot of pressure off for running certain paces, mileage, etc. In no way do I think you have to be at 7 days a week like I was. Start with building to 4-5 days a week of running if you need to. 
2. If you have been off a long time, zoom out. Your few weeks of doing things well won’t negate a much longer time of not doing things so well. Give it time and don’t put undue pressure on yourself to be at a certain pace or level by a certain time. Your body will react to the new work and allowing that to happen naturally usually means a shorter/smoother road than forcing the issue. 
3. I was not motivated for a long time. Don’t let motivation be the killer of doing. Focus on the commitment and what that means to you. It’s hard to be motivated when it’s been rocky, or it hurts, or it’s a big ego check. I wasn’t really motivated until halfway through week 10. Even now, I am back and forth on the topic. But I am committed to being committed and am actually enjoying the process again. I know the motivation will build as the fitness builds. Sometimes it’s just too big of a gap to bridge mentally from where you are to where you want to be. The good news is, we don’t have to make that bridge in the first few weeks. 

I appreciate all the like and thoughts that people have been giving me on my social. I hope this can be some help to those who need it!