As a pace leader for this half-marathon clinic, I’ve really been paying a lot of attention to other runners–making sure that they find confidence to reach their goals. This has been true especially for the runners that find themselves more to the back of the pack. I do this because I know what effect it has on the mind to just see everyone else go out ahead and fade into the horizon. Overall, it’s been good. I can see that my presence has been a positive effect. It’s such a great feeling.
Now that it’s getting close to race day though, I think my focus is slowly shifting to be more of a self-centred one. A while ago, one of the two coaches ran with me on a Sunday run. Generally those are supposed to be slow and easy. Over the past few weeks that’s how they’ve been for me because I’ve been taking my output down to the lower end of my range. It’s been good because the slower pace has helped me lower my heart rate. Conversely, there’s been less chance for me to challenge my boundaries. So, when I ran with the coach she told me to pick up the pace. In the end, I ended up running perhaps one minute faster per kilometre than my usual Sunday pace. It may not sound like much to someone that doesn’t run, but man, that difference is pretty big. Over a large distance, that difference adds up. In all honesty, that was the fastest I’d ever run that 18K distance.
On Tuesday, we were pencilled in to do a tempo run, which means a run at a pace faster than my steady pace. The coach once again ran with me and got me to pick up the pace. I remember pushing really hard that night. By the end, according to her watch, once again, I averaged out to a pace about one minute faster per kilometre.
All of this is entirely crazy for me. I’m used to running slow: it’s what I do. I guess, after getting into a certain routine I just lost sight of my own goals; I didn’t realize that I was capable of doing more, know what I mean? So, these days the coach is making my refocus and extend myself beyond my comfort zone. I’m going to go through a period of re-adjusting my goals to figure out what I should be aiming for. The way things are going right now, I may just shave off 10 minutes from my personal best. Who knows? It’s getting down to crunch time–I need to work harder!
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