Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Speed, Age

I've lost about 45 seconds on my mile. I noticed it first last spring, but I chalked it up to the end-of-winter shift from gym to street. Don't believe what they tell you: the elliptical and treadmill do not translate to running (or maybe they do for some people, but they don't for me). Every spring when I get back outside, I have to laboriously build up my stamina and my speed--even if inside I've been working out for over an hour and running 7 1/2 minute miles.

It's clear, though, after at least a year, in which I have run quite a lot, that I am slower. My short run, which used to take me about 20:30, now averages 22:30. A longer run that I swear used to be just over 30 minutes now hovers between 35 and 40.

It makes sense: I'm about to turn 43. I have to squint at the small print on the cereal box. We won't even talk about the gray.

At least I'm still running.

And, hey, I get to live the new Reebok campaign.

2 comments:

Jenny Davidson said...

All that means is that you now need to do some speedwork in order to get that speed back, where it probably just used to come naturally. In any case, if you can be bothered, I feel sure that there's some quite targeted cross-training stuff you can do including interval work & core strength stuff that will claw you back those seconds!

Anonymous said...

Becca, all I can say is you rock. You run! I don't even go for walks. Though I have had a lot of dreams about running recently.