Last year when we renewed my subscription to Runner’s World Australia it came with a training journal. At the time I didn’t have much use for it – I didn’t track my running and didn’t really have any aspirations to do so.
As time went on and I started to think more about my running, the idea of keeping track of my mileage started to creep into my mind. Particularly as I thought about getting a bit more serious with the MAF training (heart rate training program), and being conscious of my mileage. I thought about checking out some different apps and what would work for me. Then as I was rearranging some stuff at home, I came across the journal sitting in the bookshelf.
A new idea for a 52 in 52 for 2017 was born.
This week, I kick started the journal.
The aim is that after each session I’ll write up how I went, and slowly but surely increase my overall mileage each week. I want to start slowly – I’m still recovering from my hip injury after all. But this will be a way that I can keep an eye on how much is too much, and adjust accordingly. My only beef is that the week starts on Monday, but I’ll get over it.
My week in training
- Monday: Being a public holiday it meant that I had the entire day at my disposal. I slept in, and by the time I woke up it was far too hot to go for a run outside. Instead, I did a yoga session.
- Tuesday: I woke up feeling extremely fatigued and super flat, quite nauseous even. I didn’t want to push it by running (I was sure the motion would make my tummy even worse), so instead I went for a walk, 4km in 38mins and I got drenched by a random sun shower. The rain was so nice and cooling though, and funnily enough, made me feel so much better!
- Wednesday: Another session at the gym, this time because it was raining outside. I used Runmeter on my iWatch (review pending), and was super disappointed to find out that it didn’t calculate the distance, even with indoors switched on. Last time I use the app at the gym! I ran for 33mins with an average heart rate of 145bpm – right in my target zone for MAF training (also another blog post pending). I followed that up with an upper body workout on the strength machines.
- Thursday: First swimming session for the week, and it was terrible. I swam 1000m in 27mins all up, but that was in 100m breaks. The upper body workout from the day before meant I was super fatigued, and I’m still getting used to using hand paddles which require more upper body strength. I was so glad to get the session over and done with. Lesson learned – no upper body workouts before a pool session.
- Friday: I did a yoga session in the morning due to a lack of time, and to my surprise that evening Mario decided he wanted to do a yoga sesh as well, hence another 30mins that evening. The yoga is definitely working – I can feel my flexibility increasing already.
- Saturday: 5km run in 39.53mins, average heart rate of 145bpm. It was a windy morning which made the run tough – as soon as I reached the halfway point I was running into the wind, which played havoc with my heart rate. It felt like a great run though.
- Sunday: Another gym session, this time with 30mins on the treadmill and a lower body workout (right now my butt hurts). On the treadmill I ran 3.69km in 30:26, average heart rate of 145bpm – third time in a row! I think I’ve nailed my heart rate, which is good. Time to start pushing the pace a little so my body doesn’t get stuck in a comfort zone. This time I used Nike+ on the treadmill. I haven’t run outside with it enough so I don’t think the app has had enough time to get to know my stride length. As a result I don’t know how accurate the strides are and thus the distance may not be 100% accurate. All good – main thing is that I had a good run and felt comfortable throughout the whole thing.
So that’s one 52 in 52 completed already for the first week of the year – woohoo! I’ll be sure to report in on how the journal is going again in the future, and whether it’s had any benefit for me or not. My gut feeling is that with discipline in making sure that I use it, the journal will force me to be accountable and not lose sight of my goals.
Now to just figure out what that running goal actually is for the year!
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