Day 86: Comfort Zones

Lilla this whole post has come about due to you!!! THANKS.

Comfort zones we all have them throughout our lives, at work, personal life and our training routines. I am sure you can all spot most of your comfort zones whilst reading this post.

We all know the importance of mixing up our training to keep the body guessing, but how do you know when you are stuck in a rut. Well I don't have an easy answer to that but what I can say is you will probably know you were in a rut when you get out if it!!!

I always try to improve my training and get better each time I go out. I thought this was mixing it up enough and that I was pushing the boundaries and to a certain extent I was just not to the max or my max. I have settled nicely into the 5km and 8km runs that I have been doing now I hadn't really noticed.

Lilla's post abut the marathon got me thinking. Now I don't want to run a marathon, just not sure I could concentrate for that long over that distance but i thought I would try to show some encouragement by trying to match the training schedule especially as this was something new for Lilla.

The plan today was to run 10kms rather than 8kms which would match the 6 mile Lilla will have to do and then tomorrow run 13km which would match Lilla's 8 mile run. Didn't quite go to plan, but in a good way.

I read Lilla's post this morning about her concert and the fact she may switch the runs. Never the less I set out on my pre-determined route that I had planned using google earth (this is great for measuring and planning routes). Towards the 7km mark though I started thinking about Lilla's post and then realised that I have my kids sports day tomorrow so no way am I going to have time to run that 13kms tomorrow. Oh well I thought not to worry.

I kept going towards the end of the 10kms and continued thinking!! Then I thought well, I have a 3 km route mapped out from the house so I will just run on past and then do the 3km route on top...so I did. I was pretty tired by the time I reached the house but past I went back onto the beach.

I finished and ended up running 13.43kms at an average pace of 5m 04s in a total time of 1h 8m 45s. I know I can go faster but this was the first time out but I was really pleased with the time as the pace is a 12 kph pace, 7.5 mph.

Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that at the end I realised that I had really pushed through the boundaries of my comfort levels today. I have run this distance before but not for a long time and the last few times have all been on the treadmill. I hadn't realised that my workouts had stagnated so much again. I was exhausted and my running gear was soaked through but I felt great.

Just ask yourself when was the last time you really went way out there with your workouts and changed something really major?? Many of you may do this regularly and I used to think I did but this showed me I need to go further every now and again. Don't get me wrong I don't plan on running 13kms everyday now but I shall run it again next week and will run the 10 km later this week.

Thanks again Lilla.

Until tomorrow...