“There is no substitute for hard work. You show up and try and get 1% better each day”
I didn’t come up with that quote but I swear by it when it comes to my training. I started my 5k time trial training on 6th July 2020, we had 8 weeks to put in the work and I would test myself on 30th August. I had never trained for a time trial before. This crazy sport of running is still very new to me. It’s only been a couple of years since I have trained seriously and I have been marred by injuries along the way. This time period has shown me the importance of post-run routines like stretching and foam rolling and lately I have also realized the importance of strength training which is ignored by most amateur runners but is one of the most important parts of a runner’s life.
I am a fairly average runner. I usually ran around 30-35kms a week. This plan had me running around 50km a week which was not a very big jump but still significant for me. I felt the fatigue in the first couple of weeks but the fatigue was ignored a little bit because of the excitement I had about doing something I had never done before. My coaches use TrainingPeaks for our workouts and it excites me to have an agenda every week with different types of runs. Once I get a plan I give it my 100% and get the workout done.
I gave it my all these 8 weeks. Barring this one week where we had non-stop downpour of rain, I went for every workout and did my best to complete it. I am truly proud of the progress I have made as a runner because of this training plan. I never thought I would run a sub 5min kilometre in my life but it happened and I feel like I can do a lot more and there is still room for improvement.
I was feeling good during my 5k time trial but I made some mistakes that I shouldn’t have. I carried a fizzed out monster energy drink as my hydration for the run which backfired big time and I probably should have carried a gel. This was a good learning experience for me. I had never taken a monster energy drink with me for a run let alone a time trail so it was a mistake to try something new on race day. Never do something for the first time on race day!
One of the biggest surprises for me after the run was the fact that my coaches had accurately predicted the time I was going to run and they had a completely different objective in mind. They wanted me to run the 5 kilometres without any knee pain and they wanted me to get used to running 5 days a week so that I can up my volume for the upcoming half marathon training cycle. They were happy with my progress and even showed me one of their older conversations just to prove to me that they were not saying these things only to make me feel better.
I say this at the end of my vlog but this failure of not having a successful time trial run has only made me fall more in love with this sport. Like running life is unpredictable and things don’t’ always work out like you’ve planned them to. You just have to move on. Running is the best metaphor for life.
Shadaab Kadri 