My goal in 2009 is to change my mindset about being a runner. I've always thought of myself as a swimmer. A swimmer who can ride a bike and who runs because that's the last leg of the triathlon. A swimmer who hangs tough through a race until the number of people who have passed me on the run becomes too big to count.
But this year, I'm changing my mindset. I'm a runner. A runner who can swim and ride a bike too.
I'm becoming more accountable to myself on the run by keeping a more detailed log of my runs. And to do that, I have had to start wearing a watch. Last year I didn't like wearing a watch on the run because I always just wanted to go out and run easy. I convinced myself that this was best because I was avoiding injury by 'staying within myself', but really I was just avoiding being accountable to myself for the effort I put forth on each run.
I've actually found it's pretty fun to wear my watch and see how fast I'm going. I dug out my Garmin too, and wear that on runs that are not my regular routes. Maybe it's fun right now because I'm having these awesome breakthroughs all the time now and I just continually shock myself several times a week.
The other thing I've done is purchase a pair of racing flats. In 13 years of running/triathlons, I've never owned a pair. I always thought racing flats were for fast runners, so I didn't qualify to have a pair. How fast do you have to run anyway before you've earned a pair of these babies?
I wore these shoes this morning for 7 miles of fartlek style running. It's a run I've been doing weekly. This morning, in these shoes, I was 20 seconds/mile faster than ever before. Question for those of you who wear racing flats- how much faster do you run when you wear them? How much of it do you think is mental (magic shoes!) vs the physical advantage of the lighter shoes?
9 comments:
My husband could spout off tons of stats for wearing flats. He ran competatively in college and is die hard for them! He made me buy a pair last season and I swear they do take off time...it's something about the fraction of an ounce per stride decreases your overall weight by so much. Crazy. I never wanted them because I consider myself a jogger.
I'm doing the whole accountability thing with swimming. Tim is trying to force me to work harder running, but I'm hard headed and don't listen.
first of all ... love, love, LOVE those shoes! they are super bad a**.
second ... i don't know the answer to the question. : (
Always looking for (any) reason to buy new shoes....so, thanks..off to purchase some racing flats.
Will let you know if they are "magic" for me as well.
THose look great! What do they do for you that you get faster? Maybe for 5ks? you are an all around athlete mama!
Nice shoes! I also liked your comments about mindset. Great goal to make a switch to the runner mindset and it sounds like you are already there. Your post made me wonder about my own mindset and I decided that my mindset is 'not a swimmer'. I should probably change that this year.
I've NEVER worn racing flats...or thought that I was fast enough or running distances short enough to warrent a purchase. Can you wear them when running longer distances??
I'm still trying to figure that out as well (whether they truly make you faster or if it's all in your head). All I know is I ROCK my speedwork when I do them.
Hey, what are your paces like for tempos? Need a fellow running buddy who HATES speedwork?
Love the flats! I've always been training for the longer distance so I've never owned a pair but kind of want to buy some to see if I'm faster.
And I'm going to do the opposite of you and try to see myself as a swimmer. I'm actually enjoying swimming now, which is just weird.
I only wear racing flats! All the time :) So I can't tell you how much faster I am in them, but glad you finally own a pair!
Last year I did that with swimming - I swam more than I did anything else, and I was a decent swimmer by the end of it. I mean, I swept the summer series 30-34.. ha ha. ;) Only because you were hapai, of course.
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