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Week 59
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I started this week very excited for the upcoming Olympic Games to start. I couldn’t remember a time when I felt there was as good a chance of the USA medaling in as many of the distance running events as this year. Now the mass killing in Aurora, CO from a psychopathic misanthrope has curbed some of that enthusiasm. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s, their families and friends, and to the larger community. Tragic is almost an understatement. So it is with a heavy heart I greet you all this week.
Two other gripping stories before I get to my weekly post.
First:
We pick and choose what threads to read on Letsrun; some grab our attention, others just don’t. This past weekend, I finally cued in on a thread that has been around a few months. I didn’t really give a second thought to before: “Here's to breaking 20 for 5k (à la EddyLee)” – the used to be a cancer guy,
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4428533
. If you haven’t read through the thread, you should. About a month ago, he changed his handle back to “the cancer guy”, as he has been given a terminal cancer prognosis. Brent Long has set up a blog and charity page for Will’s family,
http://fight-like-a-runner.blogspot.jp/
. God bless Will and his family, I pray for a positive turn of events.
Second:
About a month back, a female runner in southern Kentucky was randomly assaulted and killed running along what is typically a very busy road in the early morning. She was pregnant with her family’s fourth child at the time.
http://somerset-kentucky.com/local/x500778912/Russell-Co-jogger-was-murdered-arrest-made
. The devastation has expectedly garnered an outpouring of emotion and sympathy, and now local runners have decided to create a charity run in her honor to help this young family. “Run with all your Hart” will occur three weeks from yesterday; here is a facebook page for the event:
https://www.facebook.com/RunWithAllYourHart
. In just a manner of a few weeks, almost 900 (~150 vitrual) have registered for the event. This is quite remarkable for around here, especially for being in a more rural area of the state, far from Lexington and Louisville. Blessings upon all that are involved in this effort.
So despite what may sometimes seem at times like petty kvetching on my part, I am truly very grateful everyday that I am able to run. And I am in awe of the extent of compassion and caring shown by the larger running community. It is heartwarming in the face of life’s cruel realities.
On to this week’s post:
Thanks, Rtype, for the discussion this past week as we’ve exchanged playing devils advocate. I think there's still a lot to explore here. I'm with you that there is a lot of snake oil being pandered out there that offer fixes that may not need fixing or catch-all get fast my way programs that will do little but take your money. This whole change your form to a forefoot-strike discussion, for example, needs to be taken with a grain of salt, IMHO, especially for us masters. Philosophically, I do subscribe to the idea that one should run with as little shoe as one can get away with. But I think that at our advanced age, to suggest that someone wholesale change their running form, unless they were having serious issues, wouldn't be the first place to look for improvement. On the other hand, if you can find the right person to act as a coach, I think that there is definitely some value in that....all depends on your goals and motivation for running. For me, personally, I have to admit that I do this on the cheap; from the restart at 45, my intention has always been to run with minimal financial effect on the rest of my family, so I remain ostensibly self-coached and self-critical.
My week was rather nondescript. I added 9 miles to the previous week with about 33 miles on 6 days. My week's log looks as such:
Sun: 7.6 w/2.5 @ 6:21 pace
Mon: 4 easy
Tue: 4 easy (2.5 on trail)
Wed: 0 (gambled and lost to a late-day storm)
Thu: 5.7 w/3x0.27 @3k pace (on a slight uphill)
Fri: 6.3 fairly easy
Sat: 5.2 w/first 3 acceleration (7:10,6:20,5:40)
Circumstances had me running in the afternoon each day, and it was warm and very humid this past week, so I really have to question my sanity. I've just had a hard time getting going in the early morning...can’t explain why that’s been. I was planning to run more on Saturday, but then I couldn’t get out the door early enough, so I switched plans to working in the yard removing brush, in stead. With all of that sweaty activity, I decided an afternoon long run wouldn’t be wise, and opted to do something shorter and a bit speedier instead. Not sure if it was the right decision, but it gave me 6 harder miles out of the 33 miles this week, which is probably about right. Who knows. On a positive note, the knee is getting better; not 100%, but it is no longer knotting up and the stiffness is much less than last week. I've been regularly using the roller on the IT band and elsewhere, and have been doing my retro-run steps at the end of my runs, both to positive effect. Next week, if there are no knee surprises, I hope to be back over 40.
I'll probably run a 5k next weekend started by a guy in our running club that donates the proceeds to an alcohol recovery program that helped him; then we have the Midsummer Nights Run (a miserably hot, but fun affair) a couple weeks later. Low expectations....but I'll give it a go.
Hope you all have a great week. Anyone have races to report? What's coming up on your plate?