thresholds

On swim team, when we would swim a long set or work on a particular kind of endurance, our swim coach would tell us to pace ourselves at something he called 'threshold'. In brief, it describes giving 80-85% effort, not as much as a sprint and yet still just at that border of being all out. The goal, as I see it, was to work at pacing while not completely wearing ourselves down, thus training us for the actual competitions.

The concept of threshold often crosses my mind while I'm swimming, especially these days when my swimming form is not as strong as it used to be. It's extremely tiring to push yourself just so for a long stretch, but somehow you don't seem to notice until you're finished with the swim.

I never thought to apply this practice to running until today. This week, running has been extremely unsuccessful for me. I barely made it past a mile on Tuesday and today was doing well until I let myself slow a little bit, and all of the sudden I was just done. I had pushed up my time to .4 mph more than I'm used to, running about a 9 minute mile for 3/10ths of a mile, and although it didn't feel the greatest, I was doing it. I was running that fast and ticking away distance.

It all ended the minute I let that mph fall. My body refused to continue running, my legs felt so tired, my head swam a bit. It was like the break I gave myself in allowing for a slower speed was the catalyst for complete exhaustion. The threshold I'd allowed myself to run at, while ultimately not my fastest, was definitely pushing the limits of what I can do. And I learned a lesson about speed: don't push it until you're at the end. Save the fast running for last.

Ultimately, I need some running training help. I can get on a treadmill for a mile to two miles but beyond that I'm either bored or exhausted. Is it just a matter of breaking past a certain physical/mental boundary or is there a better way to increase my speed and my distance without destroying myself? How will I do all this after having swam and biked a great distance?

Help. Running is hard. Mer.