Spontaneous Lunch Marathon
After 6 solid weeks in the ‘zone’, ticking off the miles, watching my diet, going to bed early, getting lots done at work – this week started out with some major speed bumps. Threw me off my groove, you might say.
I had Monday off and wanted to run, but got wrapped up in the process of registering my son for high school so put it off. I was looking forward to a lunch run on Tuesday, but it turned out to be a terrible day. Some things happened that really rocked my world and left me feeling confused and upset. Then to top it off, I had an explosion of problems to address and didn’t get home until 10pm. Strike two.
Wednesday was redemption time. I was back in the office at 6:30. My legs were still kind of thrashed from the race last Saturday, but I didn’t care. I figured I had a little extra time to burn over my lunch since I put in the extra hours the night before. I pulled a Forrest Gump, and told myself as I jogged out of the parking lot that I was going for a run and didn’t know when I’d be coming back. Unusual for me since I have things pretty structured most of the time. My brain was crammed with thoughts, I was still a bit angry about the events of the day before, and just wanted to get it out of my system.
I ran easier than normal for the first few miles, then settled into a comfortable rhythm. After an hour, I thought to myself – hey, why not do a marathon? With that thought, my pace became more determined and I became very focused on the task at hand. I was a bit on the cold side, wearing shorts in 30 degree weather, but it was better than overheating and being all sweaty for a long time in that kind of cold.
I was having a blast, but had a few things working against me. I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before, was running without food or water, and I was wearing brand new shoes. From mile 16 to mile 20 I started to struggle. The pace was wearing on me, and I constantly asking myself “How’s the motivation level?”… I would narrow my eyes a bit each time and try to focus just that much harder. I think the lack of food and water was catching up to me, and I was hating the shoes. They were stiff and solid feeling. I missed my trusty Nike Pegasus.
I ran the last 6 miles pretty hard just to break out of the rut I was in. I finished the sucker in 3:36. Just a training run on a random Wednesday. Dang. Maybe I should take a crack at one of these things…
Training Summary for the week of: 1/14/2008
This ends my 6th consecutive 60 mile week. I’m shooting for one more before I start a 2 week taper for my first ‘A’ race of 2008. I’m WAY into new territory with this approach. I usually do a 3 week block followed by a reduced recovery week before repeating the cycle. Pushing through 7 weeks will be a challenge, but I’m happy with the results so far and hopeful that the two week taper will work some magic before the race.
Race Report: CMRA 12k
Aurora Sports Park Cross Country
I had the opportunity to run in a race today put on by the Colorado Masters Running Association. I dropped my son off for an activity at 8:00, hit the race at 9:00, and was back to pick him up at 11:00. Quite the action packed morning, but it worked out well.
I’ve been wanting to do a CMRA race for a year now, and finally got my chance. They are a local club that puts on one race per month with varying distances and surfaces. Today’s race was a-typical in both of those categories! The races usually attract from 40-100 runners, and offer a chance to do a low-cost, no frills event. For a 10 dollar fee (or free to club members), I viewed it as another great opportunity to get some speed work in. It’s always easier to push yourself when in a race setting.
The couse was a 4k loop through weeds, brush, ditches, creek bottoms, grass, trees, willows, you name it. Add 4-5 inches of snow, with some ice underneath, and it made for quite a challenge. Runners could stop at one, two, or three loops – meaning there was a simultaneous 4k, 8k, and 12k race going on. The one catch was that you didn’t have to declare what distance you were racing before the start, which made for some interesting times as I would watch the runners ahead of me each time we came through the start/finish and hope they would pull off – because I was dying! Every time they would run on through, I would have to dig a little and keep up the pace.
The Scene Begins 