DFW Running Club!!

cnoelj

You have a head start on many people. You do know what you are capable of albeit several years ago. You know what you may face in your training and know what you had to do to achieve it. I had years of inactivity so I can relate to what you are saying. I started back slowly but was suprised how quickly my fitness returned. Divide your task into sub goals - I was saying yesterday on this thread that I will be identifying a race a month gradually increasing in distance until my Marathon in May. Seek encouragement from others - and this thread is a good start. Practice visualisation and affirmations daily. And I know that I am preaching to the converted. But it is good to be reminded!

sallyx

RichOneday wrote: »

That sounds just fine, Sally.

As you know the speed doesn't matter and the heavy legs (compare with Becky, same feeling at the same time!) just shows that the legs are in the middle of improving....so mission accomplished.

Just keep putting in the raw material and the end product of faster and more enjoyable runs comes out of the other end.

Well done.

Thanks
Yes know the speed doesnt matter on todays run but did find myself going faster than i have done before on an easy run!

Hoping then that next week i might start to see some small improvements :rotfl:

sallyx

cnoelj wrote: »

You have a head start on many people. You do know what you are capable of albeit several years ago. You know what you may face in your training and know what you had to do to achieve it. I had years of inactivity so I can relate to what you are saying. I started back slowly but was suprised how quickly my fitness returned. Divide your task into sub goals - I was saying yesterday on this thread that I will be identifying a race a month gradually increasing in distance until my Marathon in May. Seek encouragement from others - and this thread is a good start. Practice visualisation and affirmations daily. And I know that I am preaching to the converted. But it is good to be reminded!

Yep your certainly ahead of me I have no idea if I am capable of it :eek: However I do visualise me crossing the line and the happiness and sense of achievement that would bring. April is a long time away in my training plan and I [STRIKE]hope[/STRIKE] know I can get around

RichOneday_2

sallyx wrote: »

Thanks
Yes know the speed doesnt matter on todays run but did find myself going faster than i have done before on an easy run!

Hoping then that next week i might start to see some small improvements :rotfl:

Thats it - when you are going quicker for the same effort you know things are starting to work.

In reality, all that is happening is that as your muscles strengthen they can maintain a slightly longer stride length. So it feels just the same - same number of strides in same time even though you're going faster.

Roughly speaking 1 minute off your 6 mile time equates to your stride increasing by half an inch.

An extra half inch can make a lot of difference!!!

cnoelj

Yes you can Sally. That visualisation is a great one. Also try visualising yourself running strongly with the 20 mile marker in front of you. This is a crucial point. One of my visualisations is Tower Bridge which is the halfway mark and a big vantage point. See and hear the crowds cheering you on. Take in the architecture and the view from the river. Feel that sense of achievement of reaching this point and how good you feel.

Visualise yourself running in a relaxed confident way and breathing smoothly and regularly.

cnoelj

I was reminded of a study the other day that you may be aware of.

A group of Basketball players were divided into 3 groups and for a month the groups were asked to do the following.

Group A was asked just to practice their shooting for twenty minutes a day
Group B was asked to do nothing
Group C was asked to visualise perfect shooting for twenty minutes a day

Now as you would expect group B did not improve at all
Group A improved their shooting by 24%
But remarkably group C who had only visualised their performance and had not set foot on court improved by 23%!

RichOneday_2

cnoelj wrote: »

I was reminded of a study the other day that you may be aware of.

A group of Basketball players were divided into 3 groups and for a month the groups were asked to do the following.

Group A was asked just to practice their shooting for twenty minutes a day
Group B was asked to do nothing
Group C was asked to visualise perfect shooting for twenty minutes a day

Now as you would expect group B did not improve at all
Group A improved their shooting by 24%
But remarkably group C who had only visualised their performance and had not set foot on court improved by 23%!

That's a good example Chris.

In fact it wouldn't have been a surprise if C had outperformed them all because it is very much a mental activity.

Practising a 10K ten times before you get there works wonders. And practising a marathon ten times works wonders even more so as you say. It makes reactions to different events automatic rather than having to consciously react during the race.

You wouldn't find a top tennis player travelling without his sport's psychologist these days.

sammy115

Okay - I am officially obsessed with running now...

Going for a quick 15-20min run tonight with runchum before we do worcester 5 mile on Sunday - first time this race has been on and its raising money for a college for blind and partially sighted kids.

I am going to visualise me finishing in an hour......crossing that finish line with my arms in the air (not a hair out of place and full make up on - and perfect lipgloss of course!) - seriously though - I am going to visualise running a good race, as I seem to spend most of my time perpetually scared that I am going to be out of breath and last!:rotfl:

cnoelj

One thing I know is that you are not going to be last. I will put my house on it. If you have done anything like any training you will be fine. There are people including first timers who enter these kind of races with absolutely no training. I know that you are going to do much better than that and so do you

Snaggles

RichOneday wrote: »

Thats it - when you are going quicker for the same effort you know things are starting to work.

In reality, all that is happening is that as your muscles strengthen they can maintain a slightly longer stride length. So it feels just the same - same number of strides in same time even though you're going faster.

Roughly speaking 1 minute off your 6 mile time equates to your stride increasing by half an inch.

An extra half inch can make a lot of difference!!!

I am far too ladylike to comment on that...

Should you consciously try to make your stride a little longer then, or wait for it to happen naturally the stronger your muscles get?

As an aside, I HAVE to visualise getting to the end of my run constantly, otherwise I just wouldn't make it - it really does work.