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Week 56
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Greetings on this first day of July. Wow, it's been hot! We've never seen a string of 100-degree days like these (not since the 1930's, at least...and I certainly wasn't around then). Yeah, you all in the southwest laugh, but it's a bit more humid 'round here; last night it only dropped to about 77 degrees. I've been trying to get out the door in the morning, but some days haven't worked out. Thankfully (weird to say this), I'm not back to full mileage anyways because of the knee episode. Managed to log 31 miles running everyday. Log looks as such:
Sun: 6.3 moderate
Mon: 1 very easy (knee was a little stiff)
Tue: 6.3 Fartlek (average pace: 6:37)
Wed: 3.3 easy (1.7 with my daughter!!!!!)
Thu: 3.1 easy
Fri: 5 w/3.1 in 19:45 (accel. 6:50, 6:25, 5:55 approx. mile times)
Sat: 8.3 easy-to-moderate
All-in-all pleased with how the week went considering the knee and the weather. The knee gets a little stiff (especially behind the knee) when I sit around a lot, but there is no pain. Been doing my 50-70 steps of retro-running after each run along with the other core stuff, though probably not enough of the latter. The knee is getting better, and Saturday's run showed that I'm mostly back to normal; feeling no ill effects this morning. My highlight for the week was to run with my daughter, who has never shown the slightest interest in running until the last couple of weeks when she started run/walking a few miles every other day with her BF. Granted we took it slow, and we even stopped after 1 mile for her to catch her breath, but everyone's got to start somewhere. She seems to have had an epiphany about exercise and its connetion to quality of life, so I'm really glad that she is taking an interest in doing something active and healthy.
For those that have been on this thread since before we switched formats (continuous rather than weekly) it seems that once or twice a year we go through a dry spell, in which the number of postings and number of posters drops. I had hoped that with the new format, that it'd actually pick up steam, and the thread would be rather self-sustaining so that my weekly bump was almost unnecessary to keep the thread moving along. So I ask what you all feel we can do to get more 50+ers to join in and continue in the conversation? I've said all along that this is not my thread, it is meant for all those interested in racing and training past the half-century mark. I've also said that there is no threshold of ability...there is no judgment (maybe a bit of honest questioning...which I certainly need from time to time); it's about support and encouragement, honest self-reflection and sharing of experiences. I, for one, am as happy for someone that finally breaks 24-minutes in the 5k for the first time in their life as I am for the ones that are pushing the 15-minute barrier; I may marvel at the latter, but the joy is no different. We have a guy in our club that had never really run before in his life. He started walking with the group because his wife was a former high-school runner who had started running again. He was overweight, showed no real aptitude, and maybe only a tepid interest. Through support and encouragement, he graduated to run/walking after about 8 months, and last fall started actually running. He was quite the shuffler at first, but he has stuck with it, and started doing intervals for the first time this spring. Last week during track workout (OK, I was sidelined, but I went nonetheless), I commented to him how proud I was of what he had accomplished; the weight he'd lost, the stamina he had built up, and how he was now starting to look like a real runner. He did break that 24-minute barrier for the first time a few weeks back and I couldn't be happier. Who knows where he will end up speed-wise, but that's not really the point; to me, he is a real success story.
OK. Enough of my rambling. Can't decide whether to pull the trigger on the 4th of July 10K or not. Weather is not predicted to be very good (temperature already in the 70's and humid at the 7:30 start), and I definitely didn't get the lead-up training I'd hoped for, but I think I could still run an acceptable, but certainly not optimal, time. Thoughts?
I hope everyone is doing well. As always, I look forward to hearing what's been happening in your running (or otherwise) world.
Best wishes to all.