Days of Chills
Also, spoke to my Coach, who was quite pleased with our progression, and is the one that advised me to move my long run back one day to tomorrow (good advice) and so I did, only going 10K+ today as a recovery run. Anyway, we mapped out the next two weeks leading into a hilly Half Marathon in Nashville in which I aim to run 5:30 pace or so. We shall see how much fitness I can gain in two week's time. However, the key is to get over this bug ASAP.
So, I'm going to bed early... and I had a night full of sweats. I woke up about five times, all soaked in sweat. But I stayed in bed and did not worry. By morning, I had plenty of energy and fever blister on my lip, so my body is trying to rid itself of the evil I acquired in the Houston pollution.
Anyway, I set out, as planned, for my 2h-2h15' long run. Runs these long are quite intimidating, especially when coming off of sickness, because a bad long run turns into one long disastrous, painful, endeavor. So, I started out fine, aiming to do the entire Kennesaw Mountain Loop and was feeling quite good. My tight spots acted up a little approaching 45-min. but the weather was great (thankfully so, as I was completely dehydrated from a night of sweating) and I bypassed water. By 70-minutes I was rolling nicely, in a great training rhthym, but feeling I could go no faster. Finally, by 90-minutes I had a lot of power and found myself aggressively attacking hills and running strongly. By 1h55' my legs were either numb, or just trained, and I felt great, so I said, alright, let me attack this final 2K home. Well, soon after switching into attack mode, my legs hit bottom, just depleting and not working: lesson learned. Do not push the pace after so long a time when your legs are feeling good. I learned my body. The purpose of these long runs is to learn how to run comfortably relaxed and fluid, with as little effort as possible. And once I tried to "force the run" my body rebelled. Anyhow, a great run and feeling ready for the rest of the week.
Recovered on Wednesday nicely with strong legs and was ready for some intensity on Thursday with a 70-minute tempo on The River. Started out with a great first lap, but then ran into some hamstring (left) weakness starting my 3M tempo. Didn't have much pop, as the 2h+ long run was still in my legs and I ran the opening 5K of this run a bit more quickly than last time, all continuous. Anyway, was a bit disappointed to read 5:30 at the mile, but I was running well and in control, very fluid. Attacked well through 2 miles, seeing 5:21, which was solid and then tried to hold it together the last mile in control, but my left hamstring was just weak, but managed to produce another 5:21. I'll take it. Had a great completion of run out on Columns Dr. to finish off my run and was running very tall and strong. Good sensations, as Bordin would say.
Getting stronger... this morning's recovery run on my solid 10K loop was in 38'... usually this is a consistent 40' loop. Very nice sensations, muscularly. Ready for first track workout of the season, tomorrow morning, which had to be postponed to this afternoon thanks to a very busy community. I drove around for close to 2-hours trying to find an unoccuppied track, but to no avail. My first choice, Marietta High, was hosting a Regional Meet and I did not want to risk not being able to finish the workout. My second choice, Kennesaw Mtn., doesn't have a track! Third was N. Cobb HS, and they had a lacrosse tournament on the infield. Finally, Mt. Paran Christian School, which has a concrete track was empty, so I warmed up, and then was notified by Golf Cart Security boy that the campus is closed on the weekends.. So, I will try again this afternoon.
Alright, so I get an "F" for training intelligence, but an "A" for effort. Turns out that the 2nd school I visited this morning did, in fact, have a track, but it was hiding way in the back of the school. Frustrated, by 1:45PM, I wanted to run my workout, meaning I had only given myself a good 3-4 hours of recovery from two earlier runs (a 2-Miler and a 4M hill recovery). However, I was rearing to get after this workout and my legs felt fine.
So I drove out and started warming up and realized that I didn't have any "pop", as I was not recovered from this morning's run. It was the hottest it's been in a while, so I decided to go shirtless to attack this workout. Felt absolutely great on the first repeat, so strong, passing 400M in 68-69 seconds, easily. For a moment, I felt like I was going to run the whole workout at this pace, but the goal was 2:26-2:28, so I tried to relax. Obviously, my pacing skills, from lack of track workouts, were lacking, and I was all over the place, even developing a small stitch in my stomach, probably from eating at 11AM. Anyhow, I felt quite strong, if not fast, and was pleased to have completed the workout. Only disappointments was losing focus on #5 and missing my goals, but overall, I averaged 2:26 for the workout, which was sufficient. Oh well, I have a lot of work to do. A lot of hard work. Period.
I wanted to share some recent discoveries. First off, I would strongly recommend for one to consider purchasing Ayaan Hirsi Ali's, "Infidel". The story of Ali is of bravery, her life of death. We sleep unaware of the cruelties that still exist in these "modern" times in the Arab Muslim countries. Secondly, I have begun eating more vegetarian. Now, for those of you that know me, I love meat. And that is my gripe: I only want to eat excellently prepared meat, and not of my own hand. For example, when I want to eat meat, I will spend the money at a respectable restaurant, but I will not cook it. So, I find myself ordering wraps at Moe's Southwestern Grill without meats, but simply rice, beans, sour cream, and guacamole. I will continue this. I feel I have been eating too much meat. We shall see...
Came away with some Achilles/Calf/Soleus pain from today's workout (perhaps due to the effort), so I will see how it feels today, as I just finished watching a great 2007 London Marathon (went to bed early for it) with Ryan Hall running a strong, 2:08:24 American Record (in my mind)! Absolutely great race. Lel showed phenomenal speed to close the last 200M. Wow.
Monday, 4-16-2007
6+ Miles of Recovery on Greymont and Gilbert St. in 43:03
Tuesday, 4-17-2007
19 Miles Steady around Kennesaw Mountain in 2:05:00
Wednesday, 4-18-2007
10K Recovery on Gilbert St. in 39:52
Thursday, 4-19-2007
11 Miles with 3M at 5:25 Pace at The River in 1:10:19
22:06, 5:30-5:21-5:21 (16:12), 31:58
Friday, 4-20-2007
10K Recovery on Gilbert St. in 38:38
Saturday, 4-21-2007
AM: 4 Miles of Recovery on The Reserve in 29:37
PM: 8 Miles with 6 x 800M in 2:26-2:28 with 200M Jog in 56:20
8:58, 2:23 (1:04), 2:28 (1:05), 2:26 (1:22), 2:26 (1:27), 2:29 (1:32), 2:25, 25:10
Sunday, 4-22-2007
7M Recovery through Kennesaw Mtn. Loop & The Reserve in 47:14
Total
67 Miles
