Milestones and Promises... #run2012miles

After the barrier breaking epic that was last week...(I think my auto DM weekly round up called it Stellar!) I knew I was going to have to take it easy and I could hear my body groaning right from the off on Monday.  In summary...

Mondays run was far from ace
Tuesdays run was full of pace
Wednesdays run lacked get and go
Thursdays run went slow fast slow
Fridays run had a frightful mile
Saturdays run just brought me bile
But the route that was run on at the end of the week
Made me glad for this challenge, there's no place for the meak

So that sees me through day 50 of my running streak and the fact that it wasn't the longest or fastest, the wettest or the coldest got me thinking about what makes a streak special, and more importantly why I feel I should carry on doing it at the expense of hard training sessions that need more rest afterwards. 

Well I'm not sure why other people do streaks, some say it's a good base training, others think this is just mad, but what I've noticed is that it is forcing me to try and understand and listen to my body a little more.

In the past when training for events such as the London marathon I have religiously followed the programmes given to me by others.  These are inevitably generic, and although they often come with a number of caveats, warnings and some might say promises (Get you round, Intermediate, Sub 3-hr!) none of them are designed for me and none of them really should be followed to the letter.

Whilst the times, targets and techniques outlined in many of these programmes are very well researched, have a very good grounding in respected training practices and may even on occasion work, they do also encourage a rather one dimensional aspect to training, that could if not compensated with a gooddose of level headedness leave you feeling like you're always chasing goals and feeling guilty if you don't manage to meet your daily quota.

I think the key thing here is motivation.

If this long to-do list motivates you to get out and train, then it must be a useful tool.  However if you don't listen to your body and either push yourself too far because you're being told to, maybe causing you to feel too tired and miss a session later in the week, or cut a run short when you have plenty in the tank then I'm not sure you are going to getting as much from your efforts as you possibly good.

By having the goal to run every day, I'm forced to listen to my body on a daily basis and make judgement calls as to when I can go longer and when I just have to put in a mile.  The motivation is there to get out even when feeling lazy or under the weather and whilst I may only do a mile or two to keep the streak alive, it's a mental victory that I will be able to call upon when the going gets tough at the later stages of longer runs.

I have also found that because I'm listening to my body (with my Garmin, quite literally my heart!) I'm able to tailor runs that push me when I need it but enable me to tick over and recover in between.

So whilst others may say it is a daft idea to run every day, I have to say that I have never loved running as much as I do at the moment.  I'm never going to win any races, but I win every day I get out there and keep the streak alive.  It's a baby at the moment, but as it grows I'm sure I will become quite proud of the achievements we will have shared along the way.

It works for Ron Hill...

So, who fancies meeting up on Easter Monday for day 100?

Happy running!