To give this entry a little context, running an 8-minute mile was one of the goals I set for myself for 2019. In January I ran a mile in 9:15. If I wanted to hit that goal I knew I had some work to do.
I immediately started doing research on what to do to run faster. Not surprisingly, a lot of the plans involved running regularly. Unfortunately, running is really hard on my body, so that was out.
I remembered Wendler had told me years ago that you don't have to run regularly to run fast, you just have to condition hard. So since January, I have been dialing up my conditioning intensity.
There were a number of things that I tried that didn't really stick for one reason or another. What took has been weight vest walks and Airdyne (assault bike) sprints. To increase the intensity of the walks I have been steadily increasing the weight and distance. For the Airdyne, I have increased the number of sprints.
With that simple plan, I have improved my mile time from 9:15 to 8:05 since January. Just a mere 5 seconds from my 2019 goal. Pretty good for only running those two times this year.
This got me thinking about how I could use this information in a blog entry. What did I learn from the experience? What I learned was I didn't need a grand plan, I just needed to work really f'n hard just like how I trained in powerlifting.
I didn't need an intricate grand plan to bench over 500 lbs. I just worked really f'n hard. Oh yeah, and consistently. It was not until I got stuck at 585 for a long time before hard wasn't enough. That's when I had to reach out to other people in order to cultivate a detailed plan of action.
The point of this is, I see too many people consumed with their plan. Even worse, I see way too many people having this overwhelming need to get a coach. Seriously, what most of you really need to do is consistently work harder.
Maybe this makes me old, but I think hard work trumps everything. Yeah, eventually you may get stuck. That's when you should reach out for help. Only after you have learned the value of hard work.
