Reaping the Benefits of Discipline

I ran the Kaiser Permanente 1/2 Marathon this past Sunday at a time of 1:25.06. Not only was this a personal record, but it bested my previous time by 8 minutes and 26 seconds (a 9% difference!) which was set at the SF 1/2 in July 2010. For those who are not into running, that's a solid chunk of time.

While there are many variables that go into a good running performance, at a high level the equation is:

Quality Training + Quality Nutrition + Quality Rest = Quality Performance

I've been running consistently for the past year and a half or so, and never really saw any major decreases in my running times. While I did pile on the mileage and did set new Marathon and 1/2 Marathon PR's in 2010, none shaved off more than 3 minutes.

I was disappointed with my overall performance given how much I had been putting into my running (I used to run 6 days a week), so I decided to take a step back and reevaluate how I went about training.

My old approached involved piling on a lot of mileage. I never really ran 'quality' runs. I'd stick to a standard pace (around 7:15-7:45 per mile) and just get lots of runs in. I also did not really care about what I ate. For those who know me, I can out-eat folks twice my size, and I'd pile on whatever without any thought. I figured that my running justified this. While my weight was fine, my lack of regard for what I was putting in my body was definitely hampering my overall performance.

My new approach involves running only 3 days a week with 2 days of cross training, based on the program in the book "Run Less Run Faster". Every workout is very intense and purposeful. I won't go into the details --- I strongly suggest you buy the book (sadly I am not sponsored by the authors/publishers).

At the same time, I have not been eating any refined sugars nor fried foods for over a month now. I've lost about 3 lbs, and definitely look and feel leaner. I'm optimizing the variables in the equation above (I'm even learning how to rest), and it is working.

It's funny how this 'petty competition' can really alter behavior. While I've only done this for a short period of time, I don't desire to go back to my old eating habits. It feels good to run kinda fast.

A textbook demonstration of discipline: