Preparing for the Pittsburgh Great Race (10k)

I set a goal at this beginning of this summer to be able to run to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh from my house and back (about 4.6 miles - I thought it was 6 miles before setting the goal). Before I started, I would run here and there, and probably hit a max of about 2 miles outdoor, and maybe 2.5 miles - 3 miles on a treadmill.

A friend of mine I made on twitter(@turnbyturn) mentioned he used runkeeper on his iPhone to measure runs. Being a tech guy, I tried. On my first run, I was amazed and excited to come home and see my run down to the map detail. This got me excited to keep running. No doubt this immediate feedback loop, along with my will, is what got me over the hump.

I even went so far as to add the running runkeeper list on my blog, so I would see it constantly and, hopefully, get motivated by it. My thought to myself was: "If I publish my runs to the outside world, I would have to run further to not embarass myself." I use this as a trick on myself constantly - declare to the outside world a goal, and I usually get it. Fear can be a motivator, and its ok if used right.

I hit my goal of reaching Heinz Field by 8/13/2009 (see chart below). Soon after, I caught wind of the Pittsburgh Great Race, a 10k run in late September. I thought I MIGHT try for this. Then, on my next run on 8/15/09, I hit 6.2 miles, albeit, extremely slowly. I am glad to say, my latest run, I was trying for 6.5 miles. Without realizing it, I had gotten to 8 miles!

The data and the transparency and immediate feedback loop of runkeeper was extremely valuable. I actually continue to see this as a big theme for performance in anything in life. Below, you can see my growth in running. I now cannot wait for my first real run next weeked, the Pittsburgh Great Race.

9/19/09 8.11 mi
9/15/09 6.13 mi
9/13/09 5.80 mi
9/9/09 3.53 mi
9/8/09 4.43 mi
9/7/09 5.25 mi
9/5/09 2.41 mi
9/4/09 2.89 mi
9/2/09 3.12 mi
9/1/09 3.46 mi
8/27/09 4.42 mi
8/25/09 3.78 mi
8/24/09 3.02 mi
8/21/09 4.63 mi
8/18/09 4.61 mi
8/16/09 4.94 mi
8/15/09 6.20 mi
8/13/09 4.68 mi
8/10/09 5.40 mi
8/8/09 4.34 mi
8/7/09 4.64 mi
8/5/09 2.98 mi
8/2/09 3.29 mi
8/1/09 2.58 mi