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Have a good one out there this week!
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🍊 How To Smash An Old PR At OTF 🔨
Back on January 17, 2020, I posted a PR of 6:21 on the one-mile tread.
It was my third time doing the benchmark and my 167th class overall. The accomplishment felt great and I knew I could run even faster.
So I set my sights on eventually breaking the six-minute mark.
The world, of course, had other plans. COVID shut the world down two months later and I was away from my studio for almost a solid year. And while plenty of people took the downtime to get shredded in their basements or backyards, I was in the other group.
In other words, my fitness lapsed a bit.
The next time I tried the one-mile benchmark was June 8, 2021.
My time was more than a minute slower than my PR at 7:23. I got back into the six-minute range over subsequent tries, but nothing under 6:30. Most of them were in danger of heading back over seven minutes.
As I got deeper into my 40s, I figured maybe my shot had passed. While I established another good fitness routine at OTF and even ran my first marathon, it felt like the speed I had reached just wasn’t as attainable at 46 as it was at 41.
And so I started thinking about how to create a new target for the one-mile tread.
Maybe it was best to try to stay on the right side of seven minutes.
Maybe PRs were for younger people.
But then something happened.
I ran a 6:54 on March 11 after coming back from vacation and then hit a four-month stretch of attending at least four classes a week. It’s been by far my most consistent stretch of OTF since joining in 2018.
I surprised myself on June 16 with a 6:24 — just three seconds off my PR — and it came without any real intention to try and break my PR.
I knew I could break 6:21 my next time out … and I did on Thursday, legging out a 6:13 to break my previous time by eight seconds.
It was thrilling. My coach gave me a fist pound as I told her about my long road back and the high from the PR lasted the rest of the day.
You really shouldn’t be allowed to have that much fun in a suburban strip mall.
So how did I break a 2,036-day old PR that once seemed unbreakable to me?
Three main reasons, really.
Hard Work: Duh. This doesn’t happen if I don’t show up morning after morning and keep increasing the speeds during my pushes and all outs. Running at 9.7 MPH for over six minutes wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t do it for shorter periods in previous workouts.
Making Sure Conditions Were Right: I didn’t go to Wednesday’s workout to ensure my legs would be completely fresh. I also moved to an 8:30 AM workout from my usual 4:55 class to take advantage of a full night’s sleep. Maybe I still would’ve broke my old mark if I kept everything the same, but I wasn’t leaving anything to chance. I knew what I wanted.
Positive Mental Attitude: Was I in my own mind before this? Definitely. Instead of allowing for what might be possible, I preemptively made age-related excuses for why it might not be. But when I walked into the studio on Thursday, it wasn’t a question in my mind of if I’d break the record but by how much. That approach helped me push through the halfway mark that had given me problems before and kept my hands away from decreasing the speed.
So watch out six-minute mark! Turns out this old dog has a couple of new tricks and none of them are bound by age.
Have you ever broken a years-old PR? Let me know how you did it at [email protected] and I’ll include you comments in a future newsletter!
🍊 Your responses: Are you in the best shape of your life?
A couple of responses to last week’s newsletter about OTF getting you in the best shape of your life …
“I feel 100% the same. My only regret is that I didn’t join OTF 10 years earlier.” — Eshed
“I can really relate to you. I just turned 70, about to reach 1000 OTF classes and am in the best shape of my life.” — Chad
“I honestly can’t believe I’m in better shape at 42 than I was at 22, but it’s true.” — Jenna
📆 The Week Ahead
🚣 2,000 meter benchmark on Monday! What was that I said about no Sunday scaries with OTF? I take it back. (Just kidding, rowing is awesome. Get out there and work!)
🥇 Milestones and PRs!
No one sent me any PRs or class milestones for this newsletter! Don’t let it happen again next week. Brag to me by hitting reply on this email and I’ll include it next week!
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Note: OTF Obsessed is an independent fan-created newsletter and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially associated with Orangetheory Fitness.
