Well, that lasted longer than I thought it would. What started out as a month or so drop in training intensity, turned into a season, turned into . . . (checks calendar) . . . over three years?!?!
Back in 2018, I was getting a little burned out physically so decided to start up my Season of Slow. This basically just entailed walking all the steeper hill sections on my normal training runs. I didn’t have any target for how long this would last, but it ended up turning into more than one season.
Walking carries a fairly high stigma in the general running community. I mean the whole point of running is to run, right? Being reduced to needing a walk break feels like a failure. Like you’re not doing it right. Or well enough. And starting out, I was definitely insecure enough to feel the pressure to run as much as I could no matter how many articles I read that easy running should be very easy.
Luckily, I finally reached a point where I just didn’t care. As a now 50 year old runner, the whole point of running is for the enjoyment of it. I’m not out to win races or always finish in the fastest possible time. So all my training should be fun. What I want to do, not necessarily what I have to do.
And for the last three plus years, I’ve wanted to walk each and every one of the freaking hills I came to. Not just the ones in races, but even the ones during my short daily 1 milers. There was no hill too short or too tame that I wouldn’t walk if the mood struck me. Which it typically did.
The official end of my Season of Slow arrived at mile 9 of an eleven mile run ten days ago. I had been toying with the idea of running more of my runs starting in February, but the first came and went and I had kinda forgotten about it. The first half of my run was a bit slower than I had planned (whatevs), however I really started hitting a groove heading back home. I accidentally ran up and over one of the smaller hills I normally run after 9 miles and thought – why not just keep running? So I did.
I then made it through my next couple runs without walking. Or really wanting to walk, which is more important. I actually delayed writing this post for a week as I didn’t want to commit to this new running habit only to have to go back within a couple days.
That’s not to say I’m never going to walk again on any of my training runs. I went back to my old ways this past Sunday, for example. My legs were feeling tired after 19 miles the prior 2 days so I dialed back the effort. I didn’t walk as much as I had in the past, but still took breaks here and there.
And this is healthy and a good thing. I’m wired too black and white for my own good sometimes. So while the extra intensity will be good training for me, I can’t go too hard every day. I’ll need to find the right balance between pushing myself (which I want to do for the first time in years) and just chilling.
Probably the most ironic thing about me running more, is that my average pace for each run isn’t that much faster. Maybe 15-20 seconds at most. My guess is that I just don’t have my running endurance down yet. Hopefully, my paces will improve if I keep this up for a couple more weeks. And if not, then you can bet I’ll be right back into another Season of Slow.
The moral of the story (really, of this entire blog) is that we’re all an experiment of 1 and you should do your own thing. And when you want to change up your thing, you should do that, too.