The passer-by

It’s my first long run after a couple weeks off and I'm struggling through the last kilometre. I spot someone up on the path ahead. It’s a man walking his dog and heading in my direction. I discreetly adjust my posture - stand tall, shoulders back, strong strides. I’m getting closer, about 10metres away. I have to time this just right. I wait until the last moment. Í take one last breath of air and then, holding my breath with the most relaxed face I can muster up, I seamlessly glide past the pair, abdominals braced, silent and effortless as if I could do this all day! 

A couple more strides to get out of earshot and I open my mouth in a panic, gulping in as much air as I can. Red faced and my form deteriorating into loud foot-slaps onto the pavement, my whole upper body catches the wind like a giant windsock, slowing me down as I struggle to regain my breath. 

I’d love to say that every time I run it’s fast, effortless and graceful, but it’s just not. No one expects people to look perfect or perform phenomenally every time, so why is it that we feel the need to impress others every time, or give off the impression that we’re better than we are?  

Pro’s don’t post the boring stuff. 

Long slow walks, boring repetitive training sessions where you hardly work up a sweat, or a slow monotonous jog. This isn’t the type of stuff getting posted to social media or uploaded on Strava. Does it mean it’s not being done? No. Every pro athlete is doing it, but they’re just not posting about it. And why would they? It’s boring! But it’s also super important. 

When we exercise for a period of time, we increase our heart rate. Heart rate increases more with longer efforts, and harder work rate. So it makes sense that a slow 5k run will increase heart rate less than a fast 5k where we are really pushing our speed up. Our heart rate is controlled by our heart. The heart is a muscle. 

When exercising at the gym, it’s common to alternate upper body days with lower body days. We do this because we know that working the same muscles hard, twice in a row, doesn’t allow enough rest time and can lead to injury. But how much have we thought about our heart as a muscle? If we are pushing to our max effort every workout and every run, when are we letting our heart muscle recover? 

Sure we aren’t likely to “strain” our heart muscle like you strain a calf. But what does result is increased general fatigue, poorer ability to perform in subsequent sessions, and reduced return in fitness improvements.

So this is where the easier, boring days (that no one posts about) are key. When athletes say they train 12 times per week, they aren’t hitting 12 PBs a week. 

So, next time you’re planning your weekly training sessions, remember that it’s the mixture and variety of both lighter and heavier workouts, that combine to make a more resilient and robust athlete. Enjoy your weekly speed sesh or ego boost as you charge around the Tan Track, but also don’t be ashamed to log a slow recovery run on Strava, or you could do something really outrageous - don’t post it!

This is Kristina. She’s cool like us and one of our senior physio’s with more experience in the snow than many of us have on land. You can book in with her here for a session face to face. Or here for a virtual appointment.