fighting the elements: week 11

sunday, 0 miles . . .

monday, 14 miles . . .

. . . 2 mile warm up

. . . 3 X mile repeats with 4 min. recovery

. . . 3 X 1000m repeats with 3 min. recovery

. . . ??? cool down

tuesday, 14 miles . . .

. . . 10 miles easy pace

. . . 8 X strides with full recovery

wednesday, 14 miles . . .

thursday, 14 miles . . .

friday, 17 miles . . .

. . . 2 mile warm up

. . . 20 min. @ 5:24

. . . 10 miles easy pace

saturday am, 12 miles . . .

saturday pm, 5 miles . . .

. . . 2 miles easy

. . . 6 X strides w/full recovery

. . . and so another week of running begins. i find myself at camp, the very last day. i am exhausted and very unmotivated to put in any miles today. maybe because of the lack of sleep, all of the relationships i've been building, all the messages i've been giving, the elevation, the thought that if i do run it is going to be a death uphill. this week is a 90 mile week. if i don't run today, i'll be paying for it the rest of the days. but at this point i don't care. i think it is a good call. at least for now.

. . . the last nice day. that is what all of the weather reports are saying. the last attempt at winter will unleash itself on the valley for these first weeks of march. i felt pretty rested, though still a little bit weak from the madness. ended up taking the afternoon off from work just to hang with the family and do nothing.

i had so many doubts going into this workout. the mile repeats were supposed to be at 4:53. and the strange thing, i actually hit that right on for the first two. but i just couldn't hold it for the last one. again i was supposed to do this same pace for the 1000m. it wasn't happening, not today. all i can say is that i finished them all. when i wanted to quit i kept pushing and finished my workout. i'm just not use to running at this pace. it is so fast. i had some weird taste in the back of my mouth during the cool down and it stuck with me for the whole day. intense and different runner's high throughout the day too.

windy on the track. really windy. it seemed that on the last 1000m i had a headwind running south and north. i don't know if that is possible but it sure felt that way.

. . . dramatic decrease in temperature. i should have worn my big gloves but i didn't. by the time i got home my fingers (especially on my left side) were in really bad shape. they hurt so bad. i tried blowing warm air on them, running them under water, and finally wrapping them in a towel. it burned, it hurt. i almost cut my strides short because of it.

. . . today was a very difficult day. especially those last few miles. somewhere in the middle someone shouted out to me from their car: nice pace!! these are always encouraging. i snatched greedily at those words and clung to them for the remainder of the run. using them to push me forward. some pain in the left leg on the left side right below the knee for the last half mile or so. i'll focus on that during massage tonight. i thought this was supposed to be an easy run. wore my big gloves today thinking it would be just as cold. wouldn't you know it, it was warmer. this sort of over heating could be on of the causes of my problems today.

. . . running low on motivation. the weather sure didn't help. cold, windy, and rainy. really really windy at times. the harshest of winds was always during the steepest of hills. i'm not sure how i ended up staying on my easy pace because at times it felt like i was going backwards. there were times of peace and fluidity on this run unlike yesterday. i finally got into that mindset that i often do on just crappy days like this. who else would run in this weather? and the answer: no one. i am getting tougher, stronger, mentally and physically. i draw on the eyes of everybody in the nicely heated cars driving down the street, splashing water on me, looking at me like i'm some sort of freak of nature. so i push harder.

i got that same pain below my left knee as i did yesterday though not as intense. i'll have to work it out again tonight.

. . . defeated. completely defeated. today the days and miles and weeks and stress and everything piled up on top of each other. i couldn't even hit my 5:20 pace for those twenty minutes (though it did get a bit easier). the 10 miles at 'easy' pace was very difficult. i went back to my car and sat there for awhile. feet hurt, ankles hurt, shins hurt, but more than these minor aches, my will to continue was completely destroyed. i decided to cut things short and finish up tomorrow.

. . . this day brought hope. the morning run was quite easy and i could have done those strides fairly easily but it was already quite late and i needed to go to the bathroom. i knew that i was risking a lot by saving 5 miles for the evening. i hate night running. and i knew after saturday night service, getting the kids to bed late, and the hour of sleep i was losing, a 30 minute run would be the farthest thing from my mind.

a few things helped.

first, i got my compression socks today in the mail. they are my new best friends. the feel so amazing on. i will have to devote a whole post to these later.

second, it was a beautiful night. clear, dry, and slightly crisp.

third, only 5 miles to hit my 90 mile goal. was i really going to quit at 85 miles when i wasn't injured? yeah you could say only 5 miles, what difference would that make? but that is not the way that i want to train.

fourth, i made a vow to myself on the next night run i would put on my tights and my skin tight long sleeve top with only my light vest over it. i showed my wife. she laughed and asked if i was really going to go out like that. i figured if apollo ohno could, so could i.