From rmg3@access5.digex.net Tue May 20 14:58:55 EDT 1997

In article ,
Maywun D. Wong  wrote:
>Hi everyone,
>
>I've been reading this newsgroup for awhile now, and it's been very 
>helpful for a beginning runner like me.  I've finally worked my way up
>to 2.5 miles, about 4-5 times a week, which is excellent for me. (I'm 
>terribly out of shape!)  However, I think I've hit a slump.
>
>I've been running for about 4 months with plenty of enthusiasm, until 
>recently.  Nowadays, I find myself stopping in the middle of my first 
>mile (when I first start getting out of breath), simply out of boredom
>or non-'excitement'.  

  Time to try varying the routine.  It sounds like you run the same
route at the same pace every day.  Run that route the other way around,
find other routes, try running the first day of a pair 'hard' and 
the second day easy.  In the midst of a run, speed up for a hundred
yards or so, every so often.

  More effective than these for me (though these help too) is to have 
the occasional day of 'speed' work.  I put quotes around this because 
some of what I include here has been laughed at by some of the more 
agressive runners here.  What I mean, though, is to run some shorter 
distances at higher speed than you normally run, repeatedly.  This 
Saturday, for instance, I ran 800 meters, walked 400, and repeated 
this 5 times.  (Original plan was for 6, but 5 was still a good 
improvement over the previous top of 3 repetitions.)  At shorter 'speed' 
distances, I've walked the same distance as run.  This is a hard day, 
so not something to do all the time.  It does vary the routine, and my 
legs appreciate opening up the stride from time to time (they feel 
'stale' if I don't occasionally do something faster).

  I note that this is what works for me.  Since you're not me,
take the ideas with a grain of salt.  I am, at least, also someone
who is getting back to running, though I'm to about 7 months of it
(across the last year).  Tonight, fingers crossed, I'll take my first
shot at completing 10 km (5 laps around a local lake).  Such a 
run puts me well outside the pure fitness level runner category (which
is 3-5 times/week, 30 to maybe 40 minutes/time).  Time to readjust
my self portrait.
 

-- 
Robert Grumbine rmg3@access.digex.net
Sagredo (Galileo Galilei) "You present these recondite matters with too much 
evidence and ease; this great facility makes them less appreciated than they 
would be had they been presented in a more abstruse manner." Two New Sciences