The Decision

Three days ago, I determined to attempt my first half-marathon in Melbourne on Sunday, 9th October.

I don't regret the decision at all, but it's already affecting my life, particularly the way I experience running.

Running has been a regular part of my life for a couple of years now, building in intensity over the last eleven months; I had been contemplating whether to take the next step and aim for something "big", something "public", for a while. The clincher came when I downloaded some free software which works with my phone's inbuild GPS as a coaching guide. I went out for an Assessment Workout and learnt I was far fitter and faster than I had thought. So I asked the computer to generate a training schedule for me, and ... well, now I run with a little black box in my hand which tells me what to do.

Have you heard the line about indigenous Australians laughing at white colonists who looked at the little thing (their watch) which tell them what to do? That's what my last two runs have been like.

It's all fine and dandy when the electronic voice wants me to take it easier than I usually would at the start of a workout: "Slow down to blue zone." "Slow down to blue zone." "Maintain blue zone." And it's even OK when it asks me to speed up to my usual pace after the first five or ten minutes: "Increase pace to green zone." "Maintain green zone." But I live in quite hilly terrain; what is quite irritating is when it calmly invites me to "Increase pace to green zone" as I'm struggling up a hill. Then, rejoicing in the freedom of easy running down the other side: "Decrease pace to green zone." No way! This is the best bit!

I notice that, despite two fairly long runs the last two days, I haven't once reached running-Zen-state - not even for a few minutes. I'm also coming back from runs much more weary then before I started listening to that electronic voice. I think both these phenomena can be attributed to the facts that it's pushing me to run faster than usual, and because my natural runnig rhythms are being disrupted.

However, I have faith in whatever supercomputer processed my personal data, my goal and spat out a series of dates, times and training regimes. Barring injury or illness, 9th October is shaping up to be a big day in my life.

OK; I'm off to do some extra stretching ...