VT Dad’s fight vs. inertia & flab

This was my worst week training since October.  My mind which has been consistently upbeat and positive, wavered, and I was paralyzed on Friday and Saturday by fear and doubt.  I ran for 23&1/3 miles this week, incorporated in an 8 mile base run, 1K intervals, and a 8.4 mile tempo run.  

My schedule for the coming week:
Proprioceptive cue:  Pulling the road.
Monday: 6 mile Base run, Drills:  2X20 seconds Stiff-Legged Run, Running, No arms
Tuesday: 1K Intervals at 5K pace (4:48 per K)  1.5 mile warm-up and cool down, 3X1K intervals, with 3 minutes active rest between intervals
Wednesday: 2-6 mile Recovery Run
Thursday: Tempo run 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down, 3.5 miles @10K pace
Friday: 2-6 mile Recovery run
Saturday: 18 mile Long Run

I’ll be traveling to New Orleans tomorrow, returning late tomorrow night, as I accompany my eldest daughter on a campus visit to Tulane, one of the colleges where she’s been accepted.  I hope to run tomorrow before my flight, and Tuesday in the pre-dawn of New Orleans, but running may not be possible those days.

My Atlanta coach got on my case last night and gave me a kick in the pants.  She told me I just had to get out today and run.  She also offered me words of motivation from other runners, "Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?’ "
Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and sub-2:12 marathoner

"If one can stick to the training throughout the many long years, then will power is no longer a problem. It’s raining? That doesn’t matter. I am tired? That’s beside the point. It’s simply that I just have to."
Emil Zatopek

"Running is a lot like life. Only 10 percent of it is exciting. 90 percent of it is slog and drudge. "
Dave Bedford, English distance runner who occasionally put in 200 miles a week in training

"We all have dreams. In order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline and effort."
Jesse Owens

So this afternoon I ran.  It was 27F, -3, sunny with a breeze, when I set out for my run.  I set out to try to break my PR for a 8.4 mile loop.  I started out strongly, my first mile was solid, but after that I labored.  Running was not coming fluently, it was not going smoothly, but I pressed on.  Each split was faster than that when I set my PR for that route.  It took focus and determination, because my stride and cadence seemed off.  I was especially proud of my last mile, and uphill one which I clocked at 8:30.  I surpassed my previous PR on that run by almost 3 minutes.  Next time I need to improve my form, to get stronger and faster.  I went out, I ran, I set a PR, it was a good day.

Hope everyone that celebrated Easter had a good Easter.

I really don’t have anything other than excuses why I didn’t run today.  I was up at 5AM, had my breakfast, and was waiting to run at ~7, but I felt cold, and went to bed.  Later in the afternoon, I got all prepped, and started on my run, but my knee felt sketchy, so I shut myself down.  This makes 3 days in a row where I didn’t get a run in.  I’m bummed, but I can’t dwell on it.  I must break these habits and excuses and run tomorrow.  I will exit here and take control somewhat my exercising, I am logging off and getting a bosu workout in. Until tomorrow.

Today I fell victim to a mindset that wasn’t willing to face the elements.  I was planning to go on a 5 mile tempo run, sandwiched by a 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down, with a 15 mile progressive long run slated for tomorrow.  I was concerned about two difficult runs back to back.  In addition our afternoon weather is 29F, -2C and windy.  The wind is easily blowing in the teen, with gusts into the 30s.  This was the first time in a long time I was cold on one of my runs, I just wanted to go back inside.  Since I have 2 possible routes for my long run tomorrow, I decided to take a recovery run onto the dirt run, to try and gage whether it would be too icy at 7AM to try to incorporate into my long run tomorrow.  So my official verdict is that I am a wimp, and let the wind and cold psyche me out from completing my run today, and that I my better choice for tomorrow is to avoid the dirt road.

Today was the first day of spring, and snow greeted me as I prepared to go to school today.  It snowed most of the morning, and then I went directly to Hebrew school, where I taught a shortened school day, as class ended at 5 for the Purim celebration.  Purim is a joyous festival, where people dress in costumes, and celebrate by retelling the story of Esther, cheering the heroes and heroines, while making noise and boing whenever the villain’s name is read.  It is one of the two most joyous days at synagogue all tear, and helped brighten up the gloomy start to spring.  As for my running, today now became a rest day.  I’ll run a tempo run tomorrow afternoon, and try my progressive 15 mile long run Saturday morning, while utilizing Sunday as a recovery day.  Happy Purim to all, and Happy spring.

Today was an ugly gray day, which started out with snow, sleet, and freezing rain, switching over to all rain, as the temperature rose to 38F, 3C.  It was dreary, and gloomy, but I needed to get my interval run in.  Luckily for me I didn’t have to dodge any raindrops until my last mile, and although there were puddles nobody splashed me today.  

I ran a nice 6.1 mile loop from my house, adding a 1/4 mile snippet on the start and finish to get my total distance for the run up to 6.6 miles.  My after my warm-up, I basically broke the 4.1 mile loop into 5 sections ~1K each, or about 3 miles of uptempo running, and 4 recovery sections totaling ~1 mile.  I tried to push myself during these sections, and had some fast splits.  I still have a long way to go towards my ultimate speed goal.  I’d like one day to be able to go under 6 minutes for a mile, which would mean averaging ~3:45 per K.  Today I was trying to maintain ~4:45 per K, and I felt as if I did pretty well.  I really enjoyed pushing myself hard, and trying to recover fully in 3 minutes.  During my last interval, my daughter passed me in her Nissan Sentra.  She honked to say hello, but my first reaction was that it was a crazed rush hour motorist trying to run me off the road.  Tomorrow is the first day of spring, but we are far from spring like weather here in VT.

So much for my short lived glance into spring.  It was below freezing when I awoke, and only 38F, 3C and gray outside when I went for my afternoon 8 mile base run.  I dropped off my daughter at tennis, along with my wife, who was anxious to get out of the house, and happy to watch our littlest play tennis.  I chose a run that utilizes the bike path, and has miles marked from a September 5 mile race.  The club is about .15 mile from the bike path, so my run totaled about 8&1/3 miles.  The bike path near the University of Vermont was in good shape, except for an icy patch ~7 yards across.  I traversed the ice twice thinking about my proprioceptive cue for the week: "running on water".  I headed in the other direction, back to the start of the race, but faced a long stretch of ice that looked hazardous, and unending.  I reversed course, and doubled back along the section of path with the better footing.  I really enjoyed my run.  The bike path had other runners and bicyclists, but wasn’t jam packed like the bike path in DC.  My running pace was solid today.  All the other runners I saw during my run were running towards me.  Nobody caught me running in my direction, nor did I run anyone down.  There’s snow, sleet, & freezing rain in the forecast for overnight and tomorrow, so I’ll probably do my intervals indoors.

I had a great week as far as training this week.  I had a fabulous 4.5 mile tempo run, setting my on PR for that run by nearly 2 minutes.  I had a nice 15 mile long run, although I faded a bit during the uphill return stretch.  My total mileage for the week was a high for me @ nearly 37.5 miles

Schedule for the coming week: Proprioceptive cue: Running on Water
Monday- Rest
Tuesday- 8 miles at base pace. Drills: steep hill sprints, 1 legged hops
Wednesday- 1K intervals. 1.5 Miles warm-up and cool down.  5×1K intervals @5K pace (4:48K) with 3 minutes active rest between intervals
Thursday- Tempo run 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down.  5 Miles at 10K pace (8:03 miles)
Friday- Recovery Run
Saturday- Progression Run 15 Miles.  First 8@ base pace.  Final 7 faster until @ half marathon pace (8:27 miles)
Sunday- Off

On Sunday morning I got up ~7:20, relaxed for a bit, and then when out for a two mile recovery run.  The temperature was in the 50s, and it was raining.  I went out for a relaxing recovery run, and I was more in my element.  I was all alone during the run, still in shorts and a t-shirt.  Enjoying being back where I grew up.  Enjoying the time spent with my extended family.  Enjoying how I felt with 10 weeks to go before the marathon.  The rain didn’t phase me a bit, a was back alone with myself.

Saturday I had an opportunity to go on a long run in ideal weather conditions.  After my niece’s Bat Mitzvah, I had a 5 hour window to run.  My sister took my 3 kids that made the trip to the zoo (the eldest of the 3 ran home from the zoo), while I set out on a 15 mile long run.  It was amazing to go out and run in shorts and a t-shirt.  About 1/2 a mile from my parent’s house are former railroad tracks that have been converted into a recreation path.  It was buzzing with people, so different than my normal pre-dawn runs.  Bicycles, roller bladers, walkers, and runners all came out to celebrate the gorgeous spring afternoon.  My run itself was alright.  The trail had measured 1/2 miles, and I tried to stay sub10 pace for as long as I could. My return leg had a slight uphill grade most of the way, and I began to slow and falter ~mile 11.  Still I had an awesome time on this run.