Running Program – Part One
My previous idea of a running program plan was to run on the treadmill for ten minutes each time I worked out. This seemed okay to me, until boredom with the routine set in and I turned my attention to a different workout gadget. Well, any workout gadget other than the treadmill, if I’m honest.
“We’ll get to the specifics later” my mentor told me. “For now, I just want you to make a start on the treadmill to see how you get on based on these numbers”.
Oh, hell. Now I was going to have to do some work.
Once I was ready to start, my mentor bashed in a quick-start on the treadmill console. I was off – but only at walking speed.
“We’ll get you warmed-up gradually”.
Over the next few minutes my speed was gradually increased to faster walking until I was at my “I’m going to be late for [work / the bus / X-Factor]” pace.
For the first time, though, I was watching my Heart Rate Monitor reading on the LED display. I was quite amazed at how fast it appeared to be rising – though I hadn’t even started running yet!
My mentor explained that, if my heart rate went over my 70% Recovery Ceiling for more than a few seconds, then I had to slow down a little, until it fell back below the ceiling. I still had some way to go at this point.
Now I was slow-jogging and moving up the pace. At no point did my mentor increase the incline of the treadmill for this session. “There’s no need for that yet” he told me.
By about seven minutes I was jogging along reasonably comfortably, when my heart rate hit my recovery ceiling. In less than one more minute it went over the limit so I was instructed to reduce my speed by 0.1mph.
What was surprising was that I was not running as fast as I did in the past when I ran on the treadmill. I expected to be running significantly faster, so I was feeling a bit disappointed by this discovery. Perhaps it meant that we had calculated the recovery ceiling incorrectly?
Anyway, having reduced my speed by 0.1mph my Heart Rate Monitor reading dropped down, as if by magic, and was again just below my recovery ceiling. Then within a minute I had to reduce the speed again, then again, then again.
We continued the process and I quite quickly got to the point where I was practically walking! I was mortified by this, and felt not just a little embarrassed. My mentor instructed me to reduce my speed still further to bring my heart rate right back down in a cool-down period.
At the end of the process he asked me how I felt. “Embarrassed!” was my honest reply.
“Let’s look at what just happened” he said. “You continued on the treadmill for more than twenty minutes on your first session – even though you admitted to me that you never used a treadmill for longer than ten minutes in the past.”
“Further, you stuck to the plan. You didn’t allow your preconceived ideas get in the way of a very informative session. Ideas such as no pain no gain have been very damaging, in my opinion. How did you feel physically during the workout?”.
I told him that I felt like I wasn’t working hard enough. Although I had clearly worked up a sweat and was breathing more heavily, I felt like I should have been running faster.
“That’s brilliant. That’s how I wanted you to feel.”
He went on “The fact is that you worked-out for more than twice as long as you ever did before, with a plan in mind – and that is a great starting point!”
“Now, before we construct your running program, I want to give you one of my top tips to get the most out of your future training…..”
August 24 2009 05:30 pm | Running Program