Know where you are in your ability

Before we head out in a journey, we need to know three things.

• Where we are now. e.g. Point A
• Where we want to be, and e.g. Point B.
• how can get from where we are to where want to be. e.g. How to get from Point A to point B.

So the first part is to know where you are, in this case your running ability. You will need this as a base line so you can see the improvements in your training. The following are two simple questions you can look at.

• How fast can you run in a certain distance e.g. 1km or 2.4km?
• How far is the farthest you have run, and at what pace.

How can you test? Simple answer. Run.

For the speed test. Either you choose a route that you know its length, or you run a 400m running track 2.5 times for 1km, or 6 times for 2.4km. Uniformed officers usually are required to perform a fitness test of either these two distances under a a time limit.

For the stamina test it is a bit tricky.You don’t really know until you try. The simplest answer is simply what was the longest run you did previously. Alternatively you can test yourself gradually. Either at the running track and calculate based on how many laps you have done. A bit more risky is you just run a route until you get tired, you may to walk all the way back. which counts to your longest distance. Knowing the pace is a simple matter of calculating time over distance. or during your run you can use a gps tracking watch or app.

Up next: Performance tracking.