Hey All,
So as some of you know I’m an accountant by trade. I’m also
a big baseball fan. Both are numbers heavy. Between cost reports, forecasts,
budgets, ERAs, batting averages, WAR, this time of the year my days are
completely full of numbers.
Due to this love of statistics, right from my first run I
started tracking my times and distances. The first couple were with a s stop
watch and Google pedometer to get the distance. Of course I plugged these into
a spreadsheet and calculated my pace and a few other things. Shortly after that,
I discovered running GPS apps. My first was MiCoach by Adidas. It was a nice
little app, which accurately tracked all pertinent details of a run (GPS location,
distance, pace, etc). Loved to see my new achievements, a new furthest distance
ran, a new fastest pace. It was very encouraging to see progress.
After 4 months of running, I decided I might just be sticking
to this, and it was time to make an upgrade. I purchased a Garmin Forerunner
305. This changed the way I ran. I had an instant live look at how I was doing
during a run. I like a view with 4 data diplays, showing my overall time, my
average pace throughout the run, my distance, and my heart rate. Pretty
standard metrics, a lot of people use current pace instead of average, comes
down to preference. You can have less in your face, or set things to scroll.
When I started with the Garmin, I was constantly looking at
the watch. Every run I wanted to beat my last pace. My expectations became much
higher for what I accomplished on each run. Every run would pretty well take
the good out of me because I was always running at my max. It always became a
race. I didn’t have what I call recovery runs, light runs where I get out, do a
nice easy pace that just loosens up my legs, and feel good.
I ran like this for over a year. In 2013 I turned most of my
best race times. However, by the fall I felt my legs were dead. I didn’t have a
whole lot of desire to get out on the road. I’d run myself into the ground. I
did the Cape to Cabot, out of obligation because I’d registered, I feel like I
could have been 8-10 minutes faster.
The constant physical effort to set new highs burned me out.
I took most of November/December off. The next year, I went with a fresh mindset,
just run. Make sure I get in those runs where you just go out and enjoy
everything about it. Check in on the watch, get your distance, see how you are
doing, but don’t let it dictate everything you do. Run what your body feels
comfortable with.
Obviously, we all want to see improvements though. You need
your intervals, your hills, other things where you push, and make physical
gains. You want to be checking your numbers. Like most things in life, it is
about balance. Don’t be afraid to have a
recovery run or just to enjoy the moment.
As I continue to recover, I’ve been focused on running
comfortably. I’m not worried about pushing the pace. Just want to log the
kilometers and enjoy the run.
I still love the numbers though, especially seeing the total
KMs in a month, year, or total to date. Checking to see where I’m at in my trek
across Canada (somewhere in western Ontario). My goal this year is to log more KMs
than in any other year. Was on pace last year, but that got rudely interrupted.
So in short, run with the technology we have these days, but
don’t let it run you.
Mark
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