Running Journal #1

This is to record my thoughts, things I learned and missteps in my journey to becoming the runner of my dreams.

Review 2018

Through the summer of 2018 I’d been decently “regular” — by my 2018 standards it meant logging ~25 miles/week. This level of consistency with most of the mileage recorded at easy paces I was able to clock 7:52/mile in the Staten Island HM in Oct 2018 and that my HM PR then. Though the idea of joining a team for the sake of discipline and structure had been lingering in my mind for almost 3–4 years my own small development over the summer of 2018 gave me confidence to take the initiative to join one of many great teams the city has to offer.

It was Nov 2018, two-weeks after NYCM’18, I showed up for my first workout with CPTC. I still remember that evening vividly. I met Jake, Maurice, Bob (who recently left us, RIP), Nick, Elizabeth and coach Tony. It was Thursday and my first workout was a 1 mile, recover, 4 mile, recover, 1 k tempo. My watch flashed that I cracked a new 5k PR (~7:20 min/mile) on that day as I struggled to stay with the D group (the A being the fastest). After the workout I naturally felt amazing about my feat and was soaking in the camaraderie of the team and the pep talk of the coach.

As my fitness and ability to run faster grew over the course of first 4 week so did my overconfidence in my ability. As I ran a 15k PR of ~70 minutes (7:32 min/mil) in early Dec 2018, which is at best paltry by club standards for my AG 😄, I was flying high in the progress I’d been making. I was blatantly not being conscious of the fact that progress is NOT linear in time. Given the troughs of running ability I was coming from it’s natural to see a perceivable development in the early stages.

The holiday season came along and an extended trip outside the city broke my flow. I didn’t know that my ability was not a foundation yet, instead it’s a weak structure that’s susceptible to collapse by a mere 10 day vacation
:expressionless:.