Must have been the alcohol...
The week-long layoff from running that I recently experienced has reared its ugly head. I did two runs today. The first was an eight mile progression run to test the achilles and just to have some fun. Mile one was a warm up in 7:20, then 6:35, 6:25, 6:18, 6:18, 6:00, 5:58, 5:39, 5:30. The 5:30 had me hurting pretty good, but otherwise it felt comfortable-hard with the heart rate for the whole run averaging mid-150s. All systems felt great start to finish.
Even cooler than that, though, was my second run, which got me thinking that I'm never doing a hard workout before the sun rises ever again. I went out for an easy run just to enjoy the One Nice Day that we get in North Dakota between the snows of winter and the bugs, humidity, and scorching temperatures we get during the 27 days of summer we have here. Wow. Where did that come from? Latent geographical rage. Anyway, I ran another eight miles, starting off in 7:00 feeling WTF?! easy, then without changing my effort at all or looking at my watch, mile two came in at 6:18. Must be a mistake. Mile three in 6:18. Okay, what's going on? I take stock of breathing and legs. No complaints, cap'n. Onward through mile four in 6:21, five in 6:19, and hey, there's one of the University guys. He's a 30:5x 10000m guy just coming off a foot injury, and thankfully he is back at it again and feeling better. I run about half a mile with him through mile six in 6:53, which actually caused me some breathing problems. I could barely talk to him running that pace. Fast Guy exits stage left, then I'm right back to 6:21 for mile seven.
I'm thinking I don't want this to end, and why not ten or twelve, but I spot my wife and kids on the sidewalk, take it as a sign that all good things give way to better things, and finish mile eight in 6:19, feeling like I just went for a nice recovery jog.
I'm obviously reaping the benefits of what amounts to a taper, having consolidated some of the speed and fitness from recent strides and tempo runs, along with rest from a 31 mile injury week. But, man, what a confidence builder! With only five months to go to TCM, I wasn't feeling like sub-2:40 was all that reasonable. Today has me thinking differently. Happy Weekend, everyone!
Even cooler than that, though, was my second run, which got me thinking that I'm never doing a hard workout before the sun rises ever again. I went out for an easy run just to enjoy the One Nice Day that we get in North Dakota between the snows of winter and the bugs, humidity, and scorching temperatures we get during the 27 days of summer we have here. Wow. Where did that come from? Latent geographical rage. Anyway, I ran another eight miles, starting off in 7:00 feeling WTF?! easy, then without changing my effort at all or looking at my watch, mile two came in at 6:18. Must be a mistake. Mile three in 6:18. Okay, what's going on? I take stock of breathing and legs. No complaints, cap'n. Onward through mile four in 6:21, five in 6:19, and hey, there's one of the University guys. He's a 30:5x 10000m guy just coming off a foot injury, and thankfully he is back at it again and feeling better. I run about half a mile with him through mile six in 6:53, which actually caused me some breathing problems. I could barely talk to him running that pace. Fast Guy exits stage left, then I'm right back to 6:21 for mile seven.
I'm thinking I don't want this to end, and why not ten or twelve, but I spot my wife and kids on the sidewalk, take it as a sign that all good things give way to better things, and finish mile eight in 6:19, feeling like I just went for a nice recovery jog.
I'm obviously reaping the benefits of what amounts to a taper, having consolidated some of the speed and fitness from recent strides and tempo runs, along with rest from a 31 mile injury week. But, man, what a confidence builder! With only five months to go to TCM, I wasn't feeling like sub-2:40 was all that reasonable. Today has me thinking differently. Happy Weekend, everyone!
posted at 6:41 PM [+]
1 Comments:
No time to comment. Going to marathonguide.com to sign you up for whatever 'thon is within a day's drive from North Dakota. What's the security code on the back of your visa again? For some reason they need that when I try to register you on active.com.
Seriously, you so need a race. Just a "trial" marathon to get used to those 8oz cups before Twin Cities. Why waste a taper?
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