VT Dad’s fight vs. inertia & flab

Today was cold again, and for much of the day it was windy.  I waited until late in the afternoon to try and get favorable conditions for my run.  It was 17F, -8 C when I set out for my run.  I was lethargic and my head wasn’t where it needed to be.  At 5 minutes I was about 20 seconds slower than my norm.  I wasn’t mentally prepared to run for another hour+in the cold today so I pulled the plug on my run and walked home.

Amysud’s blog about dreading cardio hit home with me.  I’ve dreaded my interval training, and today was my interval day.  It was a glorious day for a run, a veritable heat wave 41F, 5C when I set off on my run.  I ran today sans gloves, and it felt great.  My workout today consisted of 1.5 mile warmup followed by 8×400m with a goal time of 1:50, and then a 1.5 mile cool down.  For all of my 1.5 mile warmup I kept thinking how much I was dreading this workout.  Soon enough it was time to work.  I began the intervals, trying to keep a fast, steady pace that was within my capabilities. 1:51, followed by 1:50, 1:51, 1:50, 1:50, 1:46, 1:47, and 1:45.  It felt awesome.  I was so on track.  I ran just how I wanted for all 8 intervals.  My 1.5 cool down was almost like a victory lap.

I had a good day today, although it was not quite as I had planned.  Being a Wednesday which I was off from school, I played lunchtime basketball at my health club.  Unlike Monday, I played hard and played well.  I stayed at the gym for nearly 2&1/2 hours, playing in 8 or nine games.  Today my team won all but one of our games, and today I was a factor on the court.  It felt great.

In the afternoon I took my 9 year old daughter sledding.  She had a great time.  It was a glorious day to be outsides.

Today I took my 15 year old son, and 9 year old daughter to the Montshire Science Museum in Norwich, VT, about 100 miles from home.  It was a great museum with plenty of hands on exhibits, and everyone had a great deal of fun.  We had a late lunch in a diner in Hanover, NH, and returned home, stopping for a tour of the Ben and Jerry’s plant on the way home.  The sample flavor on the tour was oatmeal raisin cookie, and in  addition I had a scope of peanut butter cookie ice cream as well.  After grocery shopping, we arrived home too late for me to run before dinner, so I waited until late tonight to go on my run.

When I finally headed out to run at 10:15 PM the temperature had fallen to 14F, -10C, and there was a fine mist of a snow falling.  There wasn’t any wind, yet throughout my entire run, my cheeks felt the cold numbing my skin.  I set off half-heartedly, on my run, stopping 45 seconds in feeling a twinge in my leg.  I walked back to my house, and pondered calling it a night, but I decided to have another go at it.  This time 15 seconds in my right leg began hurting, and then my left.  This time I did not stop, and concentrated, and worked hard on my form and cadence.  The pain in my legs disappeared, and I found a wonderful rhythm.  By 5 minutes into my run, I was already 10 seconds+ ahead of my normal pace.  By 14 minutes, I was ~1 minute ahead of where I’d normally be.  It was just me and the road.  During my entire 5&1/3 mile run I only saw 4 other cars.  Since it was a cloudy new moon, often the only light radiated from my headlamp.  I bounded up the 1K hill, moving swiftly without using all my energy.  I raced effortlessly down that same hill.  Tonight everything seemed in synch.  I completed the loop in 48 minutes, averaging just under 9 minute mile pace.  I’m glad I didn’t quit in that first minute, tonight was one of my best runs in 2009.

Today, 2/25,  is Pixie’s birthday.  I just wanted to wish my friend in sunny San Diego, "Happy Birthday."
http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/pixiglittrpants/

Today was my day off from running, and since I am on a school vacation I went to the gym to play basketball.  It was an enjoyable day, getting in 6 games.  My team didn’t have any chemistry, and we under achieved.  Being my first games in ~ a month I deferred to my teammates.  I’ll get another chance to go at it on Wednesday.

I logged ~35 miles this week.  I had 2 really successful and promising runs: my base run on Wednesday, and my tempo run yesterday.  My long run today was another story.  I ran ~20 minutes longer than I had anticipated, the only thing I did well today was making it all the way home.  However; this week I neglected my core, and I won’t be able to reach my ultimate goals if I continue to neglect my core.  I have this week off, so I am hoping to play basketball on Monday and Wednesday as well as go on day trips to a science museum ~90 minutes away in Vermont on Tuesday, and to Montreal on Friday which is between 2&2:30 away.

My schedule for the coming week is as follows: Proprioceptive Cue:  Running against a wall
Monday:  Basketball and Core workout
Tuesday: Base Run & Drills: 5 miles at base pace & 20 seconds of high knees and bounding.  PM core workout
Wednesday: 400m intervals: 1.5 miles warmup and cool down.  8X400m intervals (1:50 goal pace) with 3 minute active recovery+ basketball
Thursday: 2-6 mile Recovery run
Friday: 1 mile intervals @ 10K pace (7:58 goal) 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down & 3×1 mile intervals
Saturday: 2 miles @ recovery pace
Sunday: 5K time trial & 1.5 mile Warmup and cool down

We are supposed to get 6-10 inches of snow later today, so I decided to go for my long run in the morning.  It was snowing and 28F, -2C when I set out on my run.  There was a fresh dusting of snow on the secondary roads, while the main roads were freshly salted, and were a slushy wet mess.  Today’s route was a new route, some of which I’d never traversed even in my car.  

The first 3 miles were familiar, but today I was running slower than my usual pace.  I reached the 3 mile point in ~30 minutes, easily 2 minutes slower than what had been my norm.  The next section of my run took me  into the village of Essex Junction.  Traffic there was light, and I seemed to be running fine.  I headed out of town, and away from any cars and distractions.  It was beautiful, a winter postcard, as I ran through the pristine white countryside, along dirt roads.  Just me alone with the snow and the road. This section of my run had rolling hills, each hill with more uphill than down.  At ~ 9 miles I reached a main street again, and everything changed.  The shoulder was narrow, and the road was busy.  The shoulder was full of snow and ice, and twice I nearly rolled my ankles.  I lost my focus, and stopped concentrating on my running, my form and cadence, as my focus shifted to staying clear of the traffic.

My last 5 miles were a struggle.  By mile 11 I was back on familiar ground, but my running was anything but familiar.  A 3/4 of a mile segment that usually takes me between 6-7 minutes took more than 9 minutes.  The wheels had fallen off, I was not a pretty sight.  Instead of using my cell phone to get rescued, I continued on.  A 1.2K segment which I ran yesterday in less than 11 minutes took me nearly 16 minutes.  I looked and felt as if I were 80 years old.  About the only thing I was doing right was putting 1 foot ahead of the other.  I was cold, my sweat was cold and clammy on my body.  I was miserable.  About the only thing good about my last mile was the hot shower that I jumped into as soon as I got home.

Today I chose to repeat the same run that I did last Saturday: my 7.6 mile base distance as a tempo run.  I ran the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th segments at a fast tempo, while the other segments were ran at my base pace.  It was a glorious day for a run, clear cool, and calm 30F, -1C.  My run was enjoyable and challenging.  5 of the 8 segments I ran at about the same pace as last week, while 3 of the 8 segments were significantly faster.  I reduced my uphill 2K split by ~24 seconds, coming within 10 seconds of reaching my goal split time.  My biggest improvements came on my last 2 segments.  Instead of dogging it at the end of my run, I was able to maintain my pace, and shave over 20 seconds from each each of the last 2 splits.  Overall my time was over 1 minute faster than last week.  Todays run was also my fastest ever for that route; however, I still need to improve by more than 2 minutes to reach my goal.

The 6-8 inches of snow that was predicted on Tuesday for overnight Wednesday never materialized. Instead we had only a dusting of snow overnight. Followed by a cold drizzle throughout today.  I chose to go on an interval run while my daughter was at her tennis clinic.  My preferred route along the bike path was too icy, so I decided to try hill repeats in a neighborhood about 1.5 miles from the gym.  

It was a gray afternoon about 37F, 3C when I set off on my run.  I ran near the Burlington Country Club, up to part of the UVM campus, where I decided to run the Cliff Street Hill.  The hill may be only ~.25 miles long, but the bottom of it is at a severe slope.  I raced down the hill, and took a short recovery before racing up it, and then back down it again.  By the time I had completed 3 hill repeats, the hill had chewed me up and spit me out.  I didn’t want to quit just yet so I ran and recovered making my way to a new hill, one that was less severe and shorter ~1/10th mile.  I ran up it and down it, and then continued to a little road about .3 miles long.  I sprinted that mini loop, then ran  1 more block, before repeating the mini loop and the little hill, and then running the 3K back to the gym.  In all my run totaled ~6.5 miles, and included 10 sprints.  I got back to the gym 5 minutes before my daughters tennis let out.