Heading in to the final week before Cap City and I'm a little more excited than normal for a half marathon. I think it's because the two worst times that I've ever posted for a half marathon have both come in this race. Both times I ran this race and finished with times over three hours. This time I'm shooting for a a personal best of better than 2:04.
Now, to be fair, the first time I ran Cap City I had not prepared at all. I had run the Columbus Marathon the previous fall and the Disney World Half in January (another race I didn't prepare for) and had done no other running at all. The second time I ran Cap City was last year when I had just started getting back to running.
This year, I will run Cap City lighter than I've run it either time in the past and with much more preparation. I've done a pretty good job at sticking to the training schedule, actually running a little bit more each day than the training plan called for.
I kind of consider myself more of a basic runner. While I do use my Runkeeper app to keep track of my milage and pace, I run more based on how I feel than what my phone says I should be doing. If I'm getting too winded or tired, I slow down. If I feel like I'm holding back too much, I speed up. I don't quit though. If my training program says I need to run 60 minutes, then I run 60 minutes, even if I feel like quitting.
Others out there are much more technical with their running. They wear the heart rate monitors, they do their slow easy runs, and their tempo runs, and their fast runs, and their hill sprints, etc etc. For the most part, I just run how I feel. I try to throw some hills in every once in a while, and I try to change up the course to keep it interesting. Keeping track of my pace, for me, is more about my own curiosity for how I'm doing rather than a motivator to speed up or slow down.
So really I come back to this "running is like life" thing. This way of running is what works best for me. It may or may not be what works for others. But I run based on how I decide I want to run, not based on others' expectations of me. I take advise from others, but if that advise doesn't work for me, then I move on and do something different. I'm not the fastest runner and will never be accused of trying to break any records (other than personal records), but I'm not the slowest runner either. I'm a pretty good runner when compared to myself, and that's the only one I need to be compared to.
Now, to be fair, the first time I ran Cap City I had not prepared at all. I had run the Columbus Marathon the previous fall and the Disney World Half in January (another race I didn't prepare for) and had done no other running at all. The second time I ran Cap City was last year when I had just started getting back to running.
This year, I will run Cap City lighter than I've run it either time in the past and with much more preparation. I've done a pretty good job at sticking to the training schedule, actually running a little bit more each day than the training plan called for.
I kind of consider myself more of a basic runner. While I do use my Runkeeper app to keep track of my milage and pace, I run more based on how I feel than what my phone says I should be doing. If I'm getting too winded or tired, I slow down. If I feel like I'm holding back too much, I speed up. I don't quit though. If my training program says I need to run 60 minutes, then I run 60 minutes, even if I feel like quitting.
Others out there are much more technical with their running. They wear the heart rate monitors, they do their slow easy runs, and their tempo runs, and their fast runs, and their hill sprints, etc etc. For the most part, I just run how I feel. I try to throw some hills in every once in a while, and I try to change up the course to keep it interesting. Keeping track of my pace, for me, is more about my own curiosity for how I'm doing rather than a motivator to speed up or slow down.
So really I come back to this "running is like life" thing. This way of running is what works best for me. It may or may not be what works for others. But I run based on how I decide I want to run, not based on others' expectations of me. I take advise from others, but if that advise doesn't work for me, then I move on and do something different. I'm not the fastest runner and will never be accused of trying to break any records (other than personal records), but I'm not the slowest runner either. I'm a pretty good runner when compared to myself, and that's the only one I need to be compared to.
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