At the gym with my trainer this morning we talked about metrics to track as I look to improve my 50K run performance in May.
We were doing squats and one-legged lunge with weights.
Where I am strong versus my competitors in races is on the flats. I have good history and volume from 30 years of track and field.
Where I am weak is up AND downhill. People blow by me often at 2:1 speed. I’ve been getting better, it used to be 3:1.
If it’s taking me 50 percent power to get up and downhill with every step, what would happen if we increased my power base so it was only 25 percent effort?
Over thousands of steps? A LOT!
I should be able to squat my current body weight and I can’t. When I can we will have moved from 50 percent to 25 percent.
It’s a hard metric and a fact.
In the next two months, my goal is to move towards that metric (measuring progress every week). I will also have the feeling of the race itself as I compare my former self against the rest of the field and my time.
If you could improve your power base in one exercise and measure it weekly, what would it be?
Exercise, Yoga pose, Nutrition, Communication skills?
How do you break the “race time” down to its building block and drill there every week until you achieve peak performance?
Colin
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