It's good to push hard

I think the biggest revelation of this year is that I just need to push through the pain to get results. I know, it sounds kind of obvious, but it wasn't to me.
There are zillion training methods and theories out there. The people I tend to read all base their trainings on heart rate zones, repetitions, hard workouts and rest days.
Most of their hard workouts are harder and more ambitious in development over a training period for let's says a half marathon then I'd ever try to achieve on my own.
The the opposite side: their easy workouts are much easier then my easier workouts. At least as far as HR goes.

Side note:
I have to note it here that I just not a regular guy in terms of HR definition. 220-age never worked for me. I could easily push over the 100% limit determined this way any time. I had to learn from experience (since the monitored treadmill was giving the same, low max HR results) what my actual max could be around.

So end of last year, in order to keep my body happy (so I thought) I watched my HR very closely. It just wouldn't go down. I was running very-very (and I _mean_ very) slow and yet: I still bit into the 80% zone whatever I tried. This resulted in my running slowing down so much that I hated every minute of it.

Than this January I just started that machine and ran. While trying not to overdo it I pushed as hard as I could. Both pace and HR. By the end of the first week I was happy again with my running. By the end of the second week I ran the longest distance in a long time with reserves in my body and way under the time I set as "it would be nice to beat that".

To avoid over-training I took last week "off", only running 3 times and low mileage. This week it's back to business once again, and I'll see where the revelation leads to...

Long time no see

It's been a while. 2009 was the first complete year as far as running is concerned. I did not quit. Had some breaks but returned over and over again.

Yet it was a strange end to the year. I managed to log in the final few kilometers at the same pace as I started the year with. Just could not get my head around the reasons. More, I simply could not get my muscles to move any faster without pushing my heartrate through the roof.

Luckily, 2010 started and it all came around. If all goes well I'll log top mileage this month with two longer runs in the books.

My first target: april 25th, half marathon.

where i run these days

made with my sh.ty camera phone while on the job

friday's session

went out tonight as well even though it was very hot. it felt much worse than the heat spike two days ago but it was only 31 vs the 35 celcius before.
it was a different route as i left the dog home in this heat. knew that it will be longer than this weeks's previous 4k runs and will some climbs as well after the relatively flat runs.
also i bought my first pair of real trail shoes today. they are the adidas response trail, gray and orange edition. they were chosen from the big collection of futaneet.hu. very comfy, loads of traction. less dumping and ankle hold then my saucony pro grid 5 pair.
all around it was a good run. i managed to keep the hr in the planned zone (in the 70% range) as well which is quite unusual for me as i tend to push too much.
5.7k total in aerob mode.

back in the saddle

it's been quite a ride these past months. everything went very well until end of april. then the usual kicked in again. had to do a lot of stuff around the house, at work so running became the thing to dump. but in my mind i was already set that this year quitting is not an option.
june started with two, great paced run. short, 5k each but caused a knee pain that i've never experienced before. of course i pushed too hard after a month break but this is just how i am. so i had to rest to get my legs back.
june passed. got emotional that if faith does not let me run than i shouldn't push too hard.

but this year i wont quit!

so this week is about coming back. slowly and running short (<5k)>30 celsius) we (me and the dog) go out. we'll go again tonight...

Starting

Let's start this baby.

I decided to start an online diary apart from my twits that would document my running efforts.
These are not easy exercises for now. As the title suggest I became a runner but was dormant from time to time. In my early days I was a very active Kyokushin warrior up to the age of 18. Then usual teen stuff kicked in and I abandoned sports completely. I gained a lot of weight. To a point where lacing my shoes became a burden. I was 31 and living in Switzerland.
Then I switched hard. Daily workouts for about 4 months. I lost 20kgs (from 105 to 85). Started running as well as using my MTB more often. Already had a heart rate monitor, a Polar 520s as it had biking features built in. But as it's normal at the start the pace my HR would've allowed me felt too low. I was too proud to go that slow. So I pushed harder. Not that I did not develop, I did. But the road was painful and injury full (leg, knee, back pains).
After about 6 months of hard training I moved back to Hungary, got a new girlfriend and was intoxicated with power. I started eating unhealthy again, left workouts behind so basically destroyed all what I've built up so hard.
Two years later motivated by boredom and fatness I started exercising again. This time spinning and some running on the menu. Luckily I learned about a colleague who was a long time runner and he started to motivate me. So much that I actually participated in a race. I ran a hill half marathon with the time of 2:13 which is not that back looking back at the trianing methonds (still pushing too hard, very little rest and recovery).
Of course because of that gaps in preparation this lead to an injury, I could hardly walk after an easy run just over a week after the race. So much pain that I had to stop running completely.
Picked up roller blades instead and starting to ride horses. This was two years ago. Last year we bought a house, was busy with that.
Than came 2009, the Year Of The Great Plans. I restarted after a long-long wait. So far it seems that my legs and all other organs can handle the stress. Of course I am going easy now, building milage and aerob basics for spring.