Day 78: Intensity

I think most people reading this post will have written about Intensity on their own blogs at some point in time and I too have written about it before. We all understand the need for increasing the intensity in our workouts in our accountability.

I am writing about this again as I I was watching the Mens Wimbledon 2008 finals yesterday evening. It was an amazing match involving 2 of the greatest players currently playing the game. It has already gone down in history as one of the best finals at Wimbledon.

It lasted for just under 5 hours. These 2 athletes were performing at their peak for 5 hours straight, not only physically but mentally also. The eventual winner Nadal won in the final (5th) set by 9 games to 7. He had the chance to win the match in the 4th set tie break but Federer pulled it back. So mentally he needed to be even stronger.

This was the longest ever Wimbledon final and they just manage to finish it prior to the light fading. It just got me thinking though at the level of intensity from both these players and also the length of time they were playing at that level. I couldn't think of any other sports that require a level of intensity for almost 5 hours, marathons are just over 2, boxing is around 40 minutes.

I know they do get some rests between games but they are pretty much engaged in the game and on their feet for the majority of it. I certainly have never trained for anything near that length of time. The longest I have spent running in the past 12 months is probably around 90 minutes covering around 15 kms.

Today it was a case of dodging the rain. I must admit my legs were a little heavy from yesterday's run. I went for the medium distance today which was 5kms and I nailed it in 26m 26s which I need to check back but is either a new PB or pretty close. Really windy again today.

I have ordered my Nike + sportsband which I hope will be with me tomorrow, purchased a sensor pouch also as I do not have Nike + trainers, for anyone else in the UK thinking about it, it is definitely the more costly method, but having purchased an 80 GB Ipod Classic last year I wasn't about to go out and buy a nano now!! It cost just over £50 delivered for both the sportsband and pouch. So hopefully if it arrives in time I should be able to upload my first run.

Until tomorrow...