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A short sneak peak video of me training for Tough Mudder at Virgin Active gym in Kirkstall, Leeds - also featuring some tyre lifting from Swamp Monsters Yorkshire Tough Mudder team-mate and fellow Olympique 5 a side football player Jonny Roberts. CLICK RJ SPORTS LOGO BELOW FOR TV CHANNEL Follow my sporting, fitness and spiritual journey on Instagram at: @joycinho
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My Running Concerns: My current running level, in all distances isn't quite where I feel it should be right now. It's a strange one because before the London Marathon I felt in super great form and I still feel I am at my physical peak, although maybe I am past my all-time peak? My first race of the year was Liversedge Half Marathon, one of the toughest road half marathons around and I earned my second fastest Liversedge time in my four race history, so I felt in good form early on. Then I earned my first PB as a 30 year old at the Spen 20 (miles) with a time of 2:15:04. Since then my form has been okay but I hoped for better from myself. Despite another PB, for a 5K this time at the John Carr 5K Race Series with a time of 17:43, I definitely didn't feel very great out there that evening. I felt I lacked my usual energy and I lacked the explosive burst of pace I usually pride myself on, I definitely think I would have got near sub 17 in the same race two years ago. At London Marathon I was only a minute slower than my PB and probably didn't get the pacing right on the day, so there were no panic buttons in my head then. But Leeds Half Marathon was a different story, I felt awful and completely energy-less, finishing in a time of 1:25:00, three minutes slower than 2014 where I finished in 1:22:45 and with a painful IT band injury. Right now I should be at my peak of my running at this age (30) but I feel I have dropped down a level since I was 29, not massively but I feel I've not been performing as well as I was in 2014. I don't think it is a problem with desire in terms of pushing myself, when I am going out on my own training runs I am really pushing myself, they are very intense. But I feel that currently I lack that desire or motivation to go out on regular training runs, they are quite sparse at the moment. I just feel that after four years of hard training, not just running but other training and sports, I maybe need to give myself a longer rest than the two weeks I give myself now and again. I just think I maybe need to give myself longer to recharge myself, not physically so much but maybe more mentally, to get that motivation and some of that desire back, because it is still there, it's just lost a bit of motivation. So yeah, I feel I need to have a good month or so rest, I will still keep myself active and play competitive football but not have anything to specifically train for. Once Tough Mudder is out of the way in August that is. When I do go out on runs at the moment, they tend to be short, around 5k to 7k which just feels like a cop out to me, it's almost like going on a training run is has become a chore for me at the moment. I can't quite put my finger on why? Maybe it's because I don't have any big races coming up, or maybe it is because I put so much time and effort into the winter / spring marathon season? Generally, I do tend to run shorter races in summer but I have always kept up with regular good quality training over the last few years which usually leads to getting near to my peak performances in running around autumn time. I don't know, maybe my legs just need a bit of a rest? The marathon season I put a lot into it and maybe it's actually a mental thing? Maybe it is that I need a bit of a mental rest from hard training and running, this is why I feel I need a good long rest, something I've not had over the last four years, even when I have been injured I've still worked hard on other areas of my fitness and muscles in the gym, so I don't lose too much fitness. Helping my sister to get fit with 3 mile training runs: My sister Melanie has decided to lead a new lifestyle away from work, she is healthy living, which includes a few lifestyle changes, including how she eats and other lifestyle habits, which she calls the paleo way (or clean eating). FOREVER WHOLESOME Click here for detailed information about my sisters healthy living and eating way of life - she has a website dedicated to it at: www.foreverwholesome.com - depending on whether you are visiting the website on a mobile device or on a computer or I Phone - you may need to change the format to get the best view of the site. PS. Melanie has not yet actually fully released and satisfied her website yet so there is a lot more to come and many more improvements. To ensure she can attempt to reap the benefits of her new healthy eating and healthy lifestyle changes she asked me to take her out on regular runs to help her improve her fitness. I said yes and since then I have tried to take her out on runs a couple of times a week. I must admit, knowing I would be taking her out running 9-12 minute miles pace I expected to feel a bit bored and have itchy feet. I am used to regularly running anything from 5:20 minute miles to 6:50 minute miles but I have to say, I have found new enjoyment in these slower runs. First and foremost I have enjoyed watching my sisters progress and how these runs have definitely helped improve her fitness and that I have the ability to help her push herself into the pain barrier, something she said she has always struggled with. Seeing the satisfaction in someone else enjoying their running and improving their running is maybe where I should eventually head? The direction of training people who want to get fit, who knows? I guess it could always be an option if I want a career change. I have had some unofficial experience in this field before when I trained and helped my friend Emma get fit and it lead to her joining Kirkstall Harriers. I have also found a new enjoyment and appreciation of this type of running I have pretty much only recently re-discovered. I think over the last few years in particular, but even when I ran as a kid, I've always had the competitive nature and that will and determination to push myself, my training has always been about pushing myself to my limits and since regularly running these slower runs (sorry Mel but they are slow for me haha) I have found that I actually really enjoy them but for a completely different reason. MEDITATION / MINDFUL RUNNING: Instead of being in 'the zone' and focusing on pushing myself through the pain barrier with a one track mind, I'm finding with these slower runs I am appreciating the beauty of nature around me, it's giving me time to think, giving time to gather my thoughts and understand things in my head, it's kind of a meditating feeling - I'm calling it meditation - I'm really enjoying appreciating my surroundings and it's allowing me to be able to clear my mind. It's taking my mind and soul to places I've never taken it before. I love that feeling of forgetting about life for a short time and running gives me that feeling, when I'm racing, all I am thinking about is beating the challenge, beating another racer or beating my PB, or simply beating the pain barrier, but meditation running is giving me another reason to forget everyday life and to enjoy the nature and wildlife that is surrounding me and the beauty of the skies. For me, I now realise that both types of runs are of benefits to me, intense runs benefit me physically bit mediation / mindful runs benefit my mind, soul and well being, I feel I completely lost sense of this some years ago where I thought every run has to be like I'm racing, I now realise I lost sense of what running is all about. I know it is a completely different type of running or sports blog that I usually write but I thought it could be interesting to have a different take on how running is effecting mine and my sisters lives right now. LONDON MARATHON 2016: I am also pleased to announce that my Virgin London Marathon 2016 'Good For Age' Qualification application has been officially confirmed by the race organisers. All I have to do now is pay for my place by 24th July and I will be all set to run my fifth London Marathon in a row and my seventh marathon race in total, also becoming a five time 'Good For Age' runner and if I perform under the 'Good For Age' qualification time again I will have the chance to become a six time 'GFA' marathoner. I will also be running for charity again and I will be looking at different charities and how I may be able to make some kind of difference, so if anyone has any ideas let me know, there is plenty of time yet. I'm really excited about running the London Marathon again next year but I am also glad that I don't have to fully train until after the Christmas and New Year period. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed my insight into my sporting world....
FOLLOW MY SPORTS, FITNESS & SPIRITUAL JOURNEY: INSTAGRAM: @joycinho TWITTER: @rjsports1 @joycinho @rjrugbyleague SPIRITUAL TWITTER: @JoyceParanormal |
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