Misjudgements
June 29, 2005 – 7:14 pmI noticed something interesting yesterday; my three-miler felt good - really good. So good, in fact, that I was a little disappointed when I came home, downloaded the run data into the computer, and saw that I hadn’t, in fact, blown away my previous best three mile pace at my target heart rate. It was a good run, but not nearly so wonderful as I thought it’d been.
I didn’t think much of it until today, though, when I ran (what felt like) a horrid four-miler. I could’ve sworn it was among the worst I’ve run in the last I-don’t-know-how-long - but when I got home and downloaded the data, it turns out this was my second-best four miles since I started running again.
I think the problem is that my perceptions are all out of whack. I’m running much better now than I did even a month ago, and I’ve got the objective measures to prove it. I can go faster, longer, more efficiently - but I’m not to the point yet where I can accurately judge my own performance. I can’t wait to get to that place, but in the meantime I’ll settle for the long, slow improvement I’ve been seeing (even if it doesn’t always feel that way out on the road).
3 Responses to “Misjudgements”
Judging one’s own performance is wicked tough, which is why elites usually are pretty thoroughly coached.
BTW - I really, really like the look/feel of your page. Very clean, very easy to read.
By jank on Jun 30, 2005
Join the club. My pace is always crazy. I either start out way too fast or way too slow. But as long as we are out there running, that is all that matters-right?
By aprilanne on Jun 30, 2005
Sounds good to me, April-Anne.
And thanks, Jank! I don’t get the chance to do a lot of design/front-end web work at the office at the moment, so it’s nice to have a place to play.
By Ben on Jun 30, 2005