Running means much more to me than the time on a clock, but I still enjoy pushing myself to see what I can accomplish in races. I do not put as much weight on race performance as I used to, thankfully, but there is still primitive excitement involved in exerting yourself and competing with others. Chasing a long-term goal can also be incredibly gratifying.
Over the past three years I have probably run about 10-15 different 5k races on the road and also a few on a cross country course. Amazingly, I think almost all of these have fallen within about a minute of each other for the final time, between 18:30 and 19:40 (although the one I won was a long course and may have been more like 18:15).
I am happy with the consistency, but heading into this summer I’m ready for a jump. Clearly, some things need to change for something different to happen. I am not sure if I will ever get back to what I ran in college (17:10) from the one track 5k I competed in, but I know I can crack 18 again this summer and then we’ll go from there.
I usually run between 25-35 miles a week with a couple different workouts sprinkled in, but I’m ready to switch something up to see some time improvement. Will I ever set big records or compete on the biggest stage? Of course not, but as I noted earlier running is much more than competition or times, and ultimately I want to see the best version of myself, as cliché as that may seem. I’ve put a lot into running and I want to know that I gave it my best go.
Is there any secret to making the jump? No, I really don’t think so.
Running at your peak comes from a combination of many things, but perhaps most notably training, diet, recovery, and genetic capability.
To keep things simple, I think I need to run more volume. I could really focus on crushing hard workouts, but that would likely lead to higher chance of injury. If I can run more mileage I will increase my aerobic engine. I also could probably shave off 5 pounds. I am not overweight, but my best times in college came at a time where I weighed 20 or so pounds less than I do right now.
I have never been a higher mileage runner because I would often get little knocks that limited my full training in college if I started to creep the mileage up. However, I think if I go slower on on easy days and switch my shoes and the surface I run on regularly, then I will have a solid chance of staying injury-free and I’ll be ready to roll.
All those fun details aside, there is/are NO SECRETS to success. There is no magic pill that can make you better or take something away that you don’t want, at least not for any long-term solution. Things that are worthwhile take time and lots of effort and practice. Let’s make the day count.
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