*************************
Week 309
*************************
Greetings, 50+er's! Time for a bit of honesty. I've pretty much been going through the motions this whole academic year. Getting in just enough maintenance miles and making sure I push the pace a little to not go entirely to pot, but I've had no direction, no coherence, no plan, no real goal. It shows in how I've interacted (or lack thereof) on the thread, as well (mind you, I check daily for any new posts, but I've not been engaging in much discussion.) Spring should be a season of renewal, and I think it's about time I quit this dilly-dallying and get serious. I don't have any teaching duties until the second week of June, so my hope is to put this month to good use and restart my running program. This finals week will hopefully be the last rudderless week. Managed just 21 miles on on 5 runs; log reads as such:
Sun: 5.0 Easy (7:55/mi)
Mon: 3.0 Easy (7:51/mi)
Tue: 4.5 intervals w/6x400, 200 rec. (90,91,90,88,90,90) Windy!
Wed: Off
Thu: Off
Fri: 4.0 (7:04/mi avg) 2nd mile @6:24 (a bit downhill, though)
Sat: 4.5 moderate (7:20/mi avg) last 2.5 @6:5x pace
The intervals felt good, but the cross-wind really took the punch out of my legs coming around every other turn. The 200m recovery jogs were all in the 65-70s range. After missing Wed. and Thu. due to finals and lousy weather, I chose to run with some effort during parts of Friday's and Saturday's runs. Chaired my last Faculty Council meeting Friday afternoon (Woo-Hoo!) and went for a run afterward in the cold (48F) wind and drizzle; had to run hard just to stay warm! Then on Saturday afternoon, you wouldn't know it from the sloppy track up the road at Churchill Downs, but once the rain cleared, it was perfect running weather. Felt inspired (still thinking about that sub-2 marathon attempt! Wowza!) and ran smooth and steady for the last 2.5; didn't really feel like I was pushing all that much....so at least it was a bright punctuation mark on the otherwise mediocre week.
Thanks for the encouragement last week. With a renewed spirit, I hope to do a better job of engaging in this thread, as well. How are things by you?
All the Best!