Week 142: 8 hours 45 minutes in 6 runs so far. Tue 1 hr 41 mins with 6x hill. Sat 2 hr 44 mins long slow run (about 30 km). Will run 1 hr on Sunday, winding up a little short of my goal of 10 hours. (On Wednesday I had to work late and could only squeeze in a 45 mins run before Yoga instead of the planned 1 hr, oh well.)
My left calf has been tightening up, with calf cramping during yoga this past week, and heel soreness after today's long run. I've allowed myself to back off the stretching to only once per day, so will have to ramp the stretching back up.
Tuesday was a tough workout. Temps had been above freezing all night, so in the AM I opted for the hill workout, with 6 reps pencilled in. The closer I got to my hill the icier things became, by the time I arrived it was much too late to change my mind and head for the treadmill. After 3 repeats I was fairly wiped and was already thinking probably 4, maybe 5. Halfway back down from the 4th rep, I encountered a woman gingerly jogging up in the dark, I said "good morning", she said "don't fall down". It's funny how the competitive mind works. Even though she would most likely be long gone over the top, just the idea that I might pass her going up the 5th rep made it my best one yet. Of course she was nowhere in sight. Still the adrenaline carried me through the 6th rep, after which I had to struggle home with liberal walk breaks.
When I was all alone in the park, my reason for doing one more repeat was abstract, training for the spring race. When there was one other person out there, however briefly, the reason became very personal and immediate. This episode got me meditating all week about what motivates me to run fast in a race. It's not really about times, because if I took a half-hour off my marathon PR, or two minutes off my 5K PR, I would still be slow. (If my times were faster I might think differently.) It's not the person who finishes first, I can't compete with them. And it's not the person who finishes last, no challenge there. It's the person who's right next to me. I want to beat that person. I want it bad. I want it way out of any sane proportion. Yes, I do realize that I could beat them and we could BOTH be slow, but I still want it. If they beat me this time, I'm okay with that because I know I made them work for it. But I also burn to get them next time, which is what motivates my training. Someday, maybe within the next year, I'm going to finish ahead of Doad in a 5K, and not because he tripped on his shoelaces.