This is a weekly post for the runners of LoseIt. All levels of runner are welcome, from first timers to experienced marathoners. We welcome someone who just ran for the first time or is just starting couch to 5K (r/c25k) as eagerly as someone who has thousands of miles of experience.
This post is for sharing your progress. From training you got in this last week, your first run, a virtual race, or a real race, we'd love to hear what you did. Got a running related NSV (non-scale victory), we'd love to hear. Have a question or need advice, we are here to help.
In addition to sharing your progress each week, I ramble on about some topic related to running. This week's topic -- progress is not linear.
Running Progress is not Linear
Ran into this article this week and I thought this is a nice time to remind people that progress running is much like weight loss. You put in regular effort, but progress may not be linear.
https://www.hillrunner.com/progress-is-not-linear/
What does this mean?
Simply put, you run regularly and keep putting in effort, you might not see it getting easier or see those miles/kms piling up faster. Your progress may backtrack a little. Effort is going somewhere and it is paying off, but something is masking it. Maybe you are running at different times, levels of rest, weather, different routes, etc. There's lots of things that impact a run and all of them will work to keep you from seeing regular progress.
Everyone is Different
When you start out running -- progress may be quick. Like those early water weight pounds many people lose. But that's just one flip side of the coin. My first two weeks of running were not easy -- every run sucked hard, and there was no progress.
I understood quickly that running progress that I could notice would take time. And sure enough two more weeks and I started to see real progress. 5 minutes of running jumped to 20 minutes.
Everyone is different when it comes to how you progress in running.
Progress Takes lots of Forms
When you do see progress you may miss it. I think one of the things I notice first is not whether I can run longer or go faster -- but is how easy/hard a run or part of a run is.
Starting out, all runs are tough. Everything maxes you out and you likely stop because everything -- your muscles, cardio -- are all done/kaput. It could be hard to notice any progress when you are moving from incredibly hard down to very hard.
Being able to notice if a run is easier or harder may not be something all folks can do.
What can you look at see your progress easiest?
I think a lot of people look at speed you can run a mile or 5K or some distance as a real sign of progress. That is progress, but it isn't the one I'd look at first.
Minutes you can run at any speed is an easy way to see you progressing at running.
Running is an endurance sport. Endurance is about time enduring -- and running outside of short track and field events mostly an endurance exercise. Even people who run a super fast 5K, are simply enduring at higher level for a shorter period. It's endurance. So look at how long you can run at any speed as a good easy indication of how you are progressing.
Add Up The Minutes, Even if they aren't continuous
People focus very hard on running non-stop for X distance. They train for a 5K, 10K or half marathon, for instance. They want to be able to run non-stop for that distance. When you train for the run, you might not run continuous for a whole 5K before running a race and doing a non-stop run.
Minutes running need not be continuous while training and pushing yourself. You may progress from running 5 minutes and then walking a bit and then running 3 more minutes to running 6 min then walk some and then 5mins more running. Minutes running during your workout is what matters ultimately.
This has been true for me time and time again. If I go out and do a similar route again and again, regularly. Even just once a week. I will be able to run more minutes over time on that route. And continuous minutes isn't necessarily the best gauge. Even as a regular runner, I can easily run 50 straight minutes right now, but if I walk a bit during a steep hill or just at the mid-point, I can easily end up running 10-15 more minutes total.
But I'm running those minutes slower to get in more minutes, does that count?
Yes -- it does. Endurance building happens if you put in any level of running effort. And going longer provides plenty of progress regardless of speed.
To keep your speed when you want it, you can do shorter faster runs as part of your training. Dropping in a speed workout just 1 time a week can keep your speed up and race times down. Even if all your other runs are slow, this is often enough.
For new runners, a speed workout can be a race you do. Doing a park run once a week may be all the speed work you need.
That's it for this week. Keep running and I'll see you next Monday!
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