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Week 93
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Hello 50+ers. It’s the end of my spring break, for what it was worth. A litany of things didn’t go the way I’d hoped. It makes me wonder sometimes whether it is even worth trying to plan things out. Half the decisions I made were based on assumptions that didn’t pan out, ended up costing me time and energy, and left me feeling frustrated and unproductive. But it’s all trivial stuff in the big scheme of things, so I really shouldn’t complain…..but I will vent a little. Sorry.
You can probably tell from this lead-in that I didn’t make it to the start of yesterday’s 3k shuffle; I’ll get to that in a bit. In the mean time, I did manage to haul my arse out the door to get 52 miles in for the week, so that’s something. Here’s how the log reads:
Sun: 10.2 fairly easy
Mon: 5 w/3x1/2-mile (2:40, 2:49, 2:47) +post-run+static+balance
Tue: 6.2 easy-to-moderate +upper
Wed: 8 (4 easy am, 4 @track pm) did 8x(1/2-on, 1/2-off) on this goofy 4-laps-to-a-1500m track with a hill. The on’s were at 37-38s, the off’s were 47-48. Overall time for the 3k (8-laps) was 11:15.
Thur: absolutely nuthin’ (a very frustrating day)
Fri: 12.1 w/9@7:10 avg pace
Sat: 10.6 (5am w/1.55@5:55 pace, 5.6pm mostly on grass) + post-run+upper
Reflections:
Monday’s 1/2’s were really 0.53, 0.53, 0.54 mile runs on bike/foot paths (I scaled down the times to 1/2-mile times as they are easier to compare). The first one was moderately downhill, the second one reversed course and was this moderately uphill (this one hurt as I only gave myself 1.5 minutes rest from the first) and the last one was a flat loop around the stadium (about 3 minute jog after the second). It told me what I wanted to know, that 5:30 mile pace is currently *really* hard to maintain for any distance.
Wednesday’s track workout was a typical one I’ve done as tune-up to a 5k. The on’s were done at about 3k pace, with the off’s at long tempo pace. It felt remarkably good despite the 32 degree temp and 20 mph wind; made me think that the 10:40 time I projected was conservative, and I was looking forward to the race.
Thursday, nothing went right (you can skip the rest of this paragraph, if you don’t want to listen to my belly-aching…I’m just venting here). It was 22 degrees in the AM, so I figured I’d wait until later in the day for a run; it was supposed to get much warmer (around 50 by mid-aft). With the daughter at work, the wife in Louisville, me on spring break, I should be able to do as I please. Right? So my day was planned out, take care of some advising in the morning, go for an early afternoon run. Yeah, didn’t go that way. An email from a student the needed advising, my wife called needing me to FAX something, and my daughter called needing me to go let some dogs out where she was house sitting, because she was going to be working too late. The convolution of all this shtuff kept me either trapped in my office waiting, or getting stuff, or not knowing when I’ll be needed or waiting for further instruction….. just a very off-putting day. I could (and maybe should) have been selfish and just said no. Meanwhile, the weather forecast for Saturday morning predicted 70% chance of Thunderstorms w/ 20mph winds. So should I plunk down the $25 when the weather is so iffy and I’m already a little cash-strapped with the wife back in school? I figured I could wait to decide until Friday. And so it went.
By Friday noon, the chances of T-storms had dropped to 60%, when one of my buddies broadcast a message that he was running 12 at 1pm and wondered whether there were any takers. Then another guy replied that he needed a run that included 8@marathon pace (7:10 for him). So given how Thursday was a disaster, I decided to chuck the iffy race, and join my buddies and help this guy tempo through his marathon training. While I regret not racing (weather kept getting less iffy), Friday’s run was probably the most enjoyable time I had this week, so for me it was a worthwhile trade-off. That said, I *DO* need to get a race in.
Saturday’s weather turned out to be fine, albeit pretty blustery; the storms had all passed just to our north. I went down to at least enjoy the sea of green; it was too late to register, and I wasn’t really in a position to race my best anyways. After the race, I did a cool-down mile with one of my buddies who raced, then went home and was inspired enough to run 1.55 (notice, that it wasn’t quite 3k) at 5:55 pace. Later, after the City’s St. Paddy’s parade, I went out for another 5.5 mile easy run on the grass.
A couple final observations:
-I really find it hard to motivate myself to do ancillary work either when I’ve run 8+ miles for the day or when I’ve not run at all. That attitude needs to change.
-the speed work continues to cause my right hip some problems….not during the workout, but it sure does tighten up ex post facto.
I know this was TMI, but just wanted to give a detailed report of this frustrating week…maybe others can relate to the trials and tribulations that often accompany trying to balance running with the other aspects of our lives. Hopefully, I can toe the line sooner rather than later. We’ve had such up and down weather all spring, it’s been really hard to know what to expect any hour of any day. Fortunately, there are always a lot of races to choose from:
http://www.johnsrunwalkshop.com/race_calendar.html
OK. That’s my bellyaching for the week. I know this venting comes across as petty whining, but I really am grateful and very fortunate to get to do what I do. Any week in which I can log over 50 miles is a good one. Hope you all had productive weeks.
All the best!
Oh, and MikeF, yeah I've used those standards as a bit of motivation in the past when I've ventured on to the track. There are a couple of times on that chart that don't make sense to me. The 50-54 10k seems slow compared to the 5k, for example---I think it should be 37:30. Also, in comparing the 1500m to mile differences in different age categories, they seem pretty inconsistent. In some cases, there's an 18-second difference, in others, there is a 1-minute difference. What's up with that? I like the idea, but it needs tweaking IMHO.