Purdey, you are a far better runner than I, but I think there's a limit to how true this is, at least for me.  Most days I do not enjoy running.  Many days I hate it.  Some days I enjoy it.  But I enjoy being a runner (such as I am), and I enjoy the results. 

 

Maybe the answer is to find a way to run that is more enjoyable, but I think for me the answer is in enjoying the result.  And to enjoy the result I have to run.  All I was saying is that I think I need to have more focus in my training, doing more workouts, running more hard runs and running those hard runs harder.

Not to harp on this, and not to say you're doing things wrong (I'm certainly not the person who should criticize the motivations of others), but I was where you are.  Results became all-consuming, and ultimately left me wondering why I was even bothering.  The constant struggle to get "better" was really what killed a lot of my motivation.

I enjoy the results of my running.  I enjoy that feeling of having done something active today, that weariness that gets into your legs after a good run, that feeling of accomplishment....

But, I think that you have to enjoy the act more than the results.  And yes, I think there is a way to run to make it more enjoyable....  It's going to seem trite, but really the advice to slow down has a lot more behind than avoiding injury.  If you view training as work, and push yourself constantly, you're gonna burn out.  I'm pretty much a poster child for that.  The only fun I derived from running was going back and looking at it and seeing how "fast" I was, and comparing my race times against past times, and the times of others.

I relate this, not because I think you're wrong, but to provide a living example of what can happen.  Really, I find myself walking a fine line between wanting to improve, and not be one of the people who go to races "for fun", and avoiding the uber-competitive side, where results are more important than what I've done to get there.

 

Really? That sounds like a nice workout to me. Maybe you got slower in the later reps or something?

 

 Yeah, I tried it again today, but cut it to 4 reps. I was flaking a bit in the later reps (partly due to the weather and happening upon some uphills).

 

I think I get the same physiological benifit from doing 5 x 1200 @ HM pace, and less risk for injury than if I did 5 x mile at HM pace. 

I think I'm not getting something.  Aren't tempo runs somewhere between 10k and HM pace, and wouldn't those typically be 4-5 miles at least, depending on what you are training for?  Or is a 5 x 1 mile harder than running 5 miles at tempo pace?  This isn't arguing, just trying to understand. 

 

I think I'm not getting something.  Aren't tempo runs somewhere between 10k and HM pace, and wouldn't those typically be 4-5 miles at least, depending on what you are training for?  Or is a 5 x 1 mile harder than running 5 miles at tempo pace?  This isn't arguing, just trying to understand. 

I have never done a 4-5 mile tempo run at my HM pace.  I doubt I could do it.  My HM pace is 6:08, and for me to go out and run 4-5 miles of that during a regular training week would be a race effort.  That is going to break me down more than build me up.  Save the race efforts for the races. 

 

I relate this, not because I think you're wrong, but to provide a living example of what can happen.  Really, I find myself walking a fine line between wanting to improve, and not be one of the people who go to races "for fun", and avoiding the uber-competitive side, where results are more important than what I've done to get there.

This was a good post and I'm sure you are right.  And really, it's laughable to think that I'm results-focused and have achieved the results I have.  Some of it might have to do with the knowledge that I've come to this relatively late in life, and I believe I have a shorter window (maybe 7-10 years) to achieve whatever it is I'm going to achieve before I inevitably begin to decline.   You have good perspective, though. 

 

I can understand this - maybe there's a difference in this stuff for the faster people and myself.  My HM pace is 7:20 and I'm quite sure I can achieve this regularly on a 5 mile tempo or 5 x 1 mile without killing myself.  I could run 6:08 for about 20 meters. 

It has nothing to do with Thunder being faster and everything to do with the fact that Thunder doesn't run workouts.

 

I can understand this - maybe there's a difference in this stuff for the faster people and myself.  My HM pace is 7:20 and I'm quite sure I can achieve this regularly on a 5 mile tempo or 5 x 1 mile without killing myself.  I could run 6:08 for about 20 meters. 

So maybe pace isn't the best way to look at it.  Maybe TT runs his HM at a higher effort level, and finds that effort level to be more draining, and thus he doesn't run at that effort level much in his training.

That sounds really awful to say, and I don't mean to be an EP about it.  I can't figure out a different way to put it, though.

 

That sounds really awful to say, and I don't mean to be an EP about it.  I can't figure out a different way to put it, though.

It doesn't sound awful - I thought the same thing.  Then again, Jeff gave another perspective.