Monday, September 15, 2014

speed kills

"Speed Kills" was the slogan of a campaign back in the 70s (I think) to get people to obey the speed limit, and save lives.  Today, for me, it takes on a different meaning.

All I have to do is read yesterday's post and realize my focus should be cadence.  It needs to be at or around 180 spm; any higher is wasted energy.  I was pleased with last week, especially as my intervals drifted into the 7 to 7 1/2 mpm range.  I liked that.  It felt good.  I wanted to keep it.

This week the run interval distance increased 50%, but I was not willing to let go of the 7 to 7 1/2 mpm pace.  Yes, I had my metronome.  It is set to 180 bpm.  I did pay attention to it, but I paid more attention to speed.  My cadence did drop into the 190s, but not the low 180s.  I pushed to keep my speed up, and fatigued myself.  The fatigue broke form, and now I have a blood blister on the right big toe.  The desire for speed led to a breakdown in form, and lack of progress on cadence.  Oh yeah, I did not keep my speed, after all.  Speed killed the purpose and focus of this workout -- valuable lesson learned.

Speed and ego are connected, and I had too much ego in this workout.  I am rebuilding, I need to be humble and keep focused on not simply good things, but only the best things.  Reset, run Wednesday.

Take care, and thanks for coming along.

2 comments:

  1. Are you sure you don't have some Missouri mule in you? I'm more in the Jimmy Buffet mode, "Blew out my flip-flop."

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  2. More like an overweight Kentucky thoroughbred who thinks he can still run the Derby in 2 minutes flat, only to find reality is MUCH different. Yeah, a bit hard-headed, too, like one of those danged Missouri mules... ;-)

    As for Mr. Buffet, I can still slip in and out of that mode at will.

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