Race Cancelled?
Finding a way to challenge myself while at the same time not knowing when races will happen next.
Like many other people out there I had my race canceled due to Covid-19. I have also talked and know many people have races coming up that are in question on weather or not it will happen.
With no races a guarantee I decided to create my own racing. I got back into running after my injury about a month and a half ago. I was enjoying running again however I was missing that goal and drive of working towards something. I decided to run a 2 mile time trial today July 1st to get a base time for myself. I picked 2 miles because it seemed long enough to challenge me (a few years ago I would of laughed at the idea of just doing a 2 mile tempo) while at the same time not being crazy long. I also have the perfect 2 mile loop right near my home to make it an easy and repeatable trial.
My main goal going into today was to run sub 13 minutes for my 2 miles. My secondary goal that I knew would be an extra challenge was to run sub 12:30. I was able to accomplish my main goal but just missed my extra challenge goal. Having a harder goal that I knew could be possible but harder really helped to push me towards the end when I was starting to struggle.
The 2 mile time trial was really hard and challenging. At almost the mile and half mark I wanted to be done. I knew I had some rolling hills coming up, I had started a little to fast on the flat part of my loop, and I was on pace to break 13 but was going to have to push it to try and break 12:30. The last half mile was the hardest but was the part I was most proud of. Because I kept fighting.
Moving forward I plan to retest my 2 mile time trial on July 31st. That gives me the whole month to keep working and building my strength to set myself up to run a faster time trial. Knowing I am going to rerun this distance for time along with the goal of improving will help keep me driven when motivation isn’t quite there.
My goals for my next time trial are to try and run sub 12 minutes for 2 miles, have the 2 miles feel more smooth (felt very forced towards the end), and have fun during the process of getting faster. One of the biggest things I have learned with running is you can not rush the process.
If you to have struggled with races being canceled or you don’t know if your race will happen, here are some ideas to give you something to work towards:
Train like you are going to race. You would rather be prepared and have it canceled vs not being ready to race when it does happen.
Plan your own little time trial. Maybe its the distance of the race you were planning or a different distance.
Make a goal that lights a fire in you, that gets you excited and makes working for it so much more fun.
Happy running and best of luck making strides towards those goals!
