How Running Became a Passion - Without Me Realizing It
I never set out to become a better runner. For most of my adult life, running was simply something I enjoyed — a couple of easy runs each week folded into a broader fitness routine that was centered on strength training. It was familiar, uncomplicated, and restorative.
Then the COVID pandemic arrived.
Gyms closed. Routines dissolved. Life contracted into a much smaller radius. Like many people, I found myself pushed outdoors for exercise. I was fortunate to have a small functional gym in my basement (thank goodness), but running quickly became the most consistent part of my days.
What surprised me wasn’t that I ran more — it was how running quietly transformed from a casual habit into a genuine passion. Not overnight. Not intentionally. But slowly, almost without my realizing it.
Within two years, running had eclipsed weightlifting as my primary sport — something I would have told you was not possible before COVID.
Around the same time, I bought a Garmin Fenix watch.
That’s where this story really begins.
This article is a personal reflection on how running quietly became a passion during COVID — and how, along the way, I began paying attention to small improvements that eventually led to a meaningful drop in my 5K time.
Biometric Tracking: A Double-Edged Sword
The Garmin Fenix watch tracks everything: heart-rate variability, VO₂ max, sleep, steps. But one metric quietly hooked me — predicted 5K time.
After each run, I’d check it out of curiosity. And every time, it showed something in the 21-minute range:
21:20
21:15
21:18
Eventually I found myself thinking:
“What if I can get this thing under 21 minutes?”
Then:
“How do I get it under 20?”
Then:
“Now can I get it to 19 minutes-and-change?”
It became an experiment — nothing competitive, nothing public — just curiosity and tinkering. And the more the watch responded, the more enjoyable the process became.
It ultimately took about 18–24 months — from early 2020 into late 2021 and early 2022 — to bring my predicted 5K run time into the high 17s.
At my peak, Garmin predicted my 5km run time at 17:52.
Not a race time — just the model — but directionally accurate based on my pacing, VO2Max and running efficiency.
Running became a quiet demonstration of a familiar idea:
We overestimate what we can do in the short term and underestimate what we can do in the long term.
Understanding the heart rate Zones
Endurance training is often framed around heart-rate zones — not as jargon, but because physiology responds differently at different intensities.
Zone 1 (≤60% max HR): recovery
Zone 2 (60–70%): conversational aerobic base
Zone 3 (70–80%): moderately hard — the so-called no-man’s-land
Zone 4 (80–90%): threshold; controlled discomfort
Zone 5 (90%+): VO₂ max; very hard
Most recreational runners spend years in Zones 3 training. It’s excellent for health.This is what I did too.
But if the goal is to meaningfully improve your 5K time, the adaptations that matter mostly live at the extremes:
Very easy (Zone 2)
and
Very hard (Zone 5).
Polarized Training: The Structure Behind the Improvement
At a certain point, I began researching how elite middle-distance runners train. That’s when I learned about “polarized training”, a structure with decades of evidence behind it. Essentially you cut out most of your zone 3 and zone 4 training and instead work at the ‘polar’ ends of the heart rate zones - Zone 2 and Zone 5.
More specifically you spend 80-90% of your running time in zone 2 and 10-20% of your running time in zone 5. Almost no time is spent in zone 3 or zone 4.
Zone 2 builds the engine (aerobic base):
Mitochondrial density, stroke volume, capillary growth, fat oxidation, lactate clearance, aerobic durability.
Zone 5 raises the ceiling (VO2Max):
Peak oxygen uptake, cardiac output, fast-twitch aerobic capacity, plasma volume, maximal aerobic power.
Zone 3 is productive… but plateaus:
Excellent for general fitness, not ideal for breakthroughs.
Polarized training develops both ends of the system — a strong engine and a high ceiling.
After reading about Polarized training a lightbulb went on for me. I wondered if my prior training style (lots of zone 3 and 4 running) was why my progress had plateaued. I figured I had nothing to lose and would givepolarized training a try.
Norwegian 4×4: The Hard Sessions That Made the Difference
Zone 2 training was quite easy for me to grasp - run at an conversational pace for a long time (60-90 minutes). Zone 2 training is easy and you feel great after. However Zone 5 training was more of a black box to me - if I was supposed to spend 10-20% of my total training time there, how did I structure the ideal program?
When I begin researching zone 5 training, also known as VO2Max training, I learned about Norwegian 4x4 training. This came out of a study from Norway where researchers had athletes exercise for four minutes at VO2Max heart rate, followed by three minutes of active recovery. They repeated the bouts four times. So in total the people exercising spent 16 minutes at VO2Max pace in each workout. The results were profound - the most cited study shows that VO2Max improves by ~8% in just 8 weeks. Over 12 weeks VO2Max can improve up to 13% for non-trained individuals. VO2Max improvements are non-linear. There are ebbs and flows. I experienced this first hand. As I read more, I learned that VO2Max improvements tend to be non-linear. That matched my own experience — progress came in waves, not straight lines.
My hard-day structure revolved around Norwegian 4×4 intervals:
4 minutes hard
3 minutes easy
Repeat 4 times
These sessions are not for the faint of heart.
You spend much of the four-minute effort near your VO₂ max, and there’s a reason this format is ideal for improving 5K performance:
Four 4-minute intervals equals 16 minutes faster than your 5K pace.
A well-known study compared 4, 6 and 8-minute VO₂ max intervals.
The outcome was clear:
4-minute intervals produced the best improvements relative to recovery cost.
I tried six-minute intervals once, just for “fun”. By the end of the workout, I had done 24 minutes at VO2Max pace. Don’t go there. Not worth it. I do not recommend!
I returned to 4×4 quickly.
These Norwegian 4x4 sessions, paired with consistent Zone 2 work, moved my predicted 5K more than anything else.
The Weekly Schedule That Worked
The structure that brought my predicted 5K time down was pretty simple. One day I would do strength training, the next day I would do either a Zone 2 run or a VO2Max run. Rinse and repeat. So a typical week would look like this:
Week 1
Monday — Long run (Zone 2)
Tuesday — Full-body strength
Wednesday — VO₂ max (4×4)
Thursday - Full body strength
Friday — Long run (Zone 2)
Saturday - Fully body strength
Sunday — VO₂ max (4×4)
Week 2
Monday — Full-body strength
Tuesday — Long run (Zone 2)
Wednesday — Full-body strength
Thursday — VO₂ max (4x4)
Friday — Full-body strength
Saturday — Long run (Zone 2)
Sunday - Full-body strength
Repeat.
If I needed a rest day, I skipped the strength day — never the run day.
Periodization and Mesocycles - important for systemic Recovery
Later, I began to understand the role of periodization and mesocycles — concepts I hadn’t thought much about at the beginning. Up until then, my training had been fairly linear: similar effort, week after week. Over time, I noticed that progress came more easily when periods of harder training were followed by deliberate pullbacks.
What I eventually learned is that periodization simply introduces rhythm into training — intentional waves of effort and recovery rather than constant intensity. That framing helped explain something I was already experiencing: the biggest gains tended to show up after the quieter weeks, not during the hardest ones.
A mesocycle, as I came to understand it, is just a short block of training — usually a few weeks — with a particular emphasis, whether that’s aerobic volume, VO₂ max work, or something else. Nothing complicated. Just a way of grouping effort into manageable chapters.
Over time, I settled into a simple four-week rhythm that worked well for me:
Three weeks of steady work, followed by one lighter recovery week.
I found that breaking the month up this way made the harder stretches feel more sustainable — and the recovery weeks more satisfying. Even during the “push” weeks, I learned that stepping back for a day or two when needed was part of the process, not a failure of it.
Most of the real adaptation seemed to happen during those quieter periods — a pattern that mirrored much of the rest of the experience.
Gear I Used
I kept gear simple:
Garmin Fenix watch + Garmin heart rate chest strap
(The strap is far more accurate than wrist HR.)
Hoka Shoes
Long Zone 2 runs — soft, forgiving, perfect for 90-minute sessions.
Nike Vaporfly Shoes
VO₂ max interval runs — light, responsive, ideal for speed.
Now that I had the training program in place it was all about finding great places to run.
Toronto: Where My Structure Took Shape
Throughout 2020 and much of 2021, I stayed in Toronto - it was during COVID so we were all stuck anyway.
Long Runs
My long runs followed a similar ritual:
I’d drive down to the Distillery District
Start at Balzac’s Coffee
Run down to the waterfront
Head west on the waterfront bike path toward Humber Bay Shores
35-45 minutes out, 35-45 minutes back
I did this 2x per week:
one 75-minute run and one 90-minute run.
The waterfront bicycle path is exceptional — wide, open, safe and perfect for steady-state running. As long as you stay in the slower cyclist lane, you can comfortably share the path
Running became a form of meditation.
VO₂ Max Runs
My hard sessions happened either down on the waterfront path I mentioned earlier or at Queen’s Park close to University of Toronto campus — its an 800–900m loop I grew to appreciate.
Recovery in Toronto
I’ve always believed in recovery. I have a standing red-light therapy unit at home, and I used it regularly — especially during heavier training periods.
Miami: A Temporary Escape, Not a Lifestyle
In the winter of 2021, Toronto was still under strict COVID lockdown. There was nowhere to go, little open, and a long winter ahead. The city reopened briefly around Christmas before the Omicron variant arrived and restrictions returned.
I decided to spend some time in Miami — it was in the same time zone, and I had heard positive things from a few clients who lived and worked there. I rented a short-term place in Brickell and continued running as part of my daily routine.
It wasn’t a lifestyle shift. Miami felt more like a temporary sanctuary during an unusual period.
Almost unexpectedly, it became the most consistent and enjoyable stretch of running I’d had up to that point.
Zone 2 Runs — South Beach to Sunny Isles
My favorite runs during that period were long Zone 2 efforts after work. Brickell sits on the mainland, and the beach is just across the bridge, connected by a north–south boardwalk that stretches for miles — from South Beach through Mid-Beach and North Beach, past Surfside and Bal Harbour, all the way up to Sunny Isles.
I’d usually start near the southern end of South Beach, around 5th Street and Collins Avenue, where the Art Deco buildings line the street — a style I’ve always been drawn to. From there, I’d run north along Ocean Drive and onto the pedestrian boardwalk, moving steadily through each neighborhood until eventually reaching Sunny Isles. Depending on the day, the run took around 80–90 minutes.
It was during those long, unhurried runs that I began to realize how much I enjoyed discovering a city this way — moving through it slowly enough to notice details I’d otherwise miss.
I’d often end the run in Sunny Isles, stop at Treesome Natural Foods Café, apologize to the staff for being drenched in sweat, grab something simple to eat, and head back. By the end of the run, it had become a familiar routine rather than a destination.
Some evenings I’d start at sunset and finish in the dark. During that stretch of COVID, the rhythm of those runs felt unexpectedly peaceful.
VO₂ Max Runs — North Beach to South Beach
For the harder days, the boardwalk was perfect. I’d head to North Beach do a 10 minute Zone 2 warm-up and then to the 4x4 intervals running south along the boardwalk. Finishing with a 10-20 minute zone 2 cooldown and wind up in South Beach, go to the Whole Foods and then head back to Brickell.
Recovery in Miami
Although I already had an Equinox membership in Toronto (Yorkville), I extended it to the Brickell location while I was in Miami. It became part of my routine during that stretch, particularly for recovery.
I also joined the UFC Gym in the Design District specifically for their recovery lounge, which included a cryogenic chamber, NormaTec compression boots, and a full-body red-light bed. I didn’t work out there — I only recovered there.
Having access to those recovery tools made it easier to sustain the higher training volume during that period.
Miami was never meant to be permanent. It was simply a temporary chapter during an unusual time.
The Two-Year Arc
From the outside, progress can look neat and orderly. Internally, it felt much quieter.
A series of small, steady improvements that accumulated over 18–24 months — the kind of progress you barely notice until one day you do.
That’s one of the quiet joys of running: even as an adult, improvement is still possible, often arriving without fanfare.
Some of my favorite memories from that period are the long Zone 2 runs where I’d have catch-up calls with friends, family, and colleagues. During a particularly demanding stretch at work, those runs became a natural place to reconnect — I’d tell people, “Call me between 6 and 7:30 — I’ll be out on a long run.”
A few moments that still stand out:
Long waterfront runs in Toronto that felt meditative
Queen’s Park intervals in the cold
Sunset runs in Miami ending under the night sky
Watching VO₂ max inch upward one decimal at a time
Running became a quiet companion.
Where I Am Now
Today, I’m no longer chasing a particular time. That chapter served its purpose.
Lately, I’ve been thinking more about the idea of minimum effective dose — not how much training I can tolerate, but the least amount required to maintain fitness and feel good over the long term. That shift has changed how I approach running.
These days, I usually run twice a week for about an hour, and a couple of times a month I’ll include a Norwegian 4×4 session. It’s enough to stay connected to the practice without turning it into a project.
The passion remains — calmer now, woven into the rest of my life.
Running carried me through COVID, through Toronto winters, through Miami escapes and a very busy time at work. Running is still one of my favorite ways to clear my head if I am working on solving a complex problem.
It remains one of the clearest parts of my day.
A Quiet Ending
Looking back, I’m not sure I fully appreciated it at the time, but running ended up being one of the most stabilizing forces during the process of exiting my company. It created a daily rhythm when many other variables were in flux.
This isn’t a training guide. It’s the record of what happened when a hobby I enjoyed intersected with a pandemic, a Garmin Fenix watch, a handful of routes in Toronto and Miami, and the slow compounding of small improvements.
Some of the most meaningful chapters begin without a plan. Running was one of those chapters for me.
Who knew tinkering with a sports watch would have led me down this path.
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