Since COVID has started, the 10+ hours of weekly exercise that I used to get from SAISA sport training sessions have been no more. I have had to resort to training on my own, and the thing I usually do for my cardio is long distance running. I started doing this in March of 2020, and would run 6 kilometers every other day. However, some times I would miss a day, or would go for an extended period without running. When I resumed running again, I would notice that I was struggling, and it took some time to get back to the pace that I was previously running at.

I had started this school year running consistently, but a lot of work towards the back end of the quarter, combined with the October break, meant that I had missed quite a few running sessions. Rather than just aimlessly going back out onto the track, I wanted to make a plan for myself to be able to get back to my previous fitness level as quickly and as methodically as possible.

I usually ran around 6 kilometers, and my times would vary from 25 to 27 minutes, which averages to around 4.17 – 4.5 minutes per kilometer. So, for my first run back, I decided to do just 4 kilometers to ease myself back into running. I was aiming for a pace of around 4.45 m/kms, and was just under it.

It was not as easy as I thought it would be, as can be seen from these per kilometer splits. This was due to the extended break I had taken, and I set out a bit too fast for the pace.

My next session, I went for a 5 km run, furthering the gradual process back to my normal 6 km pace.

I was aiming for 4:45 per km again, but this run was much slower. The average time would actually been slightly less, had I not run into someone that I knew and had a short chat on the 4th kilometer. Regardless though, this was quite an easy jog, and by the end I did not feel too tired. The next step was to go back to 6 km.

The first 6 km back at pace went very well. The pace of 4.53 m/kms was towards the lower end of where is usually is, which is a good sign. The split times were extremely consistent, as after the reasonably quick first km I felt completely fine and was able to keep it up reasonably well.

All that is next is to continue getting better each run.

My most recent run was at a much better pace for the full 6 km, and the hope is that I can continue to improve upon this pace. My goal is to do 6 km in 24 minutes, which would average out to 4 minutes per kilometer.

Learning Outcomes Demonstrated in this CAS experience:

1. Identify your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.

3. Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.