Thursday, October 14, 2004

The Running Rundown, Oct. 4-15: short form, except when it's not

<>October 4: 30 minutes easy. Took in some of Naylor's Run Park
October 5: Group workout, and I was LATE! Fortunately, since the workout consisted of "Art Museum repeats" (described in an earlier entry), I met up with the group as they returned from their warm-up and went with them to the back lawn of the Museum. We ran ten minutes, then rested a few minutes, then for the second set, we were to do half of whatever number of laps we'd completed during the ten-minute run. I couldn't remember how many laps I'd run, so Dave told me to do three laps the second time. Seemed fair enough. Did the cooldown afterward, and then I rode to 30th Street with Mike. I always appreciate getting some time to talk with Mike. There haven't been so many chances because I'll often stay afterward to do the bounding drills--which I also enjoy. However, we didn't have those because I think Dave wanted to get home to watch the Cheney/Edwards debate.
October 6: One hour run, including the xc course.
October 7: Felt under the weather, as if I was getting a cold, very washed out. Managed about 20 minutes, but couldn't go further.
October 8: Scheduled off day

October 9: ~18 miles. This went much better than the 20-miler two weeks earlier, even though I ran harder. The object was to start easy for the first hour, then increase the effort to marathon goal pace, and aim for 10k pace during the last three miles. This one had me worried. After the hurting 20 mile run, I wondered if I'd be able to increase the effort level. That seemed counter-intuitive, but I was surprised to find that I could do so--increasing my speed was another matter. There were two parts to the course. We first ran along West River Drive, past Memorial Hall, and back toward WRD from Montgomery Drive.


From there, we returned to Lloyd Hall on the path that skirted the Art Museum (rather than the one near the Waterworks). Dave had run that first loop and waited at Lloyd Hall with water and some prodding. We had a 3:20 time limit, and Dave reminded me that I had a little over two hours left--and that was it. (I had 1:17 on my watch for 7 miles, so approximately 11 minute pace until then.) I had already begun to push the pace a little more on West River Drive--but probably not by much. It was time to hunker down and see what I could do. I wanted to go the whole distance. Dave said he would be waiting at the theater in Manayunk and there letting people know their turn-around points so as to meet the time limit. I wanted to do the whole 12 miles of that twelve-mile section. It would turn out not to be the case, but I still was grateful for the challenge.

Setting out with Nancy, I saw some women talking about the marathon and their training. They seemed to be setting a strong but doable pace, so I suggested to Nancy that we tuck in behind them, without being right on their shoulders of course. She agreed, and we became their "chase pack," staying about 20-50 yards behind them, determined to keep them in sight, yet not distract them too much. We kept on in this manner until we had to detour onto Kelly Drive (a section of it was closed) to avoid the Dragon Boat Festival crowds. There, we drew closer to the women in front of us. At one point, I even passed them, but I don't recall if they returned the favor. Somewhere along this section, I passed Rebecca who had been running quite strong. "Caught!" she exclaimed. But she hadn't made it easy!

From there, I moved on past the Falls Bridge (where the "lead pack"--or were they now the chase pack?--turned). I still had some doubt about being able to keep the effort, but I found that it helped to fantasize. I wasn't just on a training run. I was in the Olympic Marathon, and having started conservatively, I was getting ready to reel in the leaders. They were quite a distance ahead, but they were coming back to me. My strategy was working. By the time I reached Manayunk, Dave told me to run ten more minutes and turn back. While I hoped that my ten minutes would lead me to the turn-around point for the full distance, I was about a third of a mile short. Still, the pace was better than it had been during my ghastly 20-miler, so I was pleased with that.

Once I turned, I saw myself heading down the homestretch. Back into Olympic runner mode: the leaders would come back to me. When I reached the 3 mile marker, I paused briefly for a gel, and then it was time to dig in. My goal was to make the last three miles in under 30 minutes. Hardly my 10k pace at its best, and I hoped that I'd do even better than that. But it was the bottom line goal. With about two miles to go, I passed Rick, but that didn't last long. He had the move covered, and was past me before we reached the one-mile marker. I tried to stay with him, and, in the last quarter mile, almost caught him. But I breathed too loud when I drew up near him, and he heard and pulled away. Still, his presence made me work harder, stay stronger. I still don't know if the last three were under thirty minutes, because I couldn't see my watch well enough to notice the seconds. It teetered on the edge of thirty minutes, however, which, again, certainly was better than the limping, struggling 20-miler of two weeks earlier. Surprising what's possible with a good fantasy!

October 10: One-hour run with 10x100m strides on the Upper Darby track. Decided to time these, and while no Olympic records were even made the slightest bit nervous, I was pleased that I was able to do these the day after a long hard run and that the times improved as I went along. The times: 28, 26, 25, 25, 25, 25, 24, 23, 22, 22.
October 11: easy half hour
October 12: Ran with group. We ran 6x1/4 mile with 1/4 mile recoveries. In this one, we were divided into four groups, starting in inverse order of speed. For a change, I decided to try a slightly faster group, so went out not with the first bunch, but with the second--all guys except me. I stayed with them for the most part, and did a 1:54 for my first quarter, but then I was mincemeat! The rest of my times showed the toll my over-ambition had taken: 2:04, 1:59 (managed to rally a little), 2:03, 2:10 (but I'm not sure about the distance; the 1 3/4 mile mark on the bike path is very hard to see, especially now when it gets dark earlier), and 2:09. Unfortunately, that last was for a real quarter mile...can't claim to have overshot...but I felt my father's presence, kept feeling prompted not to give up--though I'd really badly slowed down. Because of that, I could finally resist the temptation to berate myself for being so slow and instead see the positive: that I didn't give up, that I'd tried something a little harder, a group a little faster than usual, taken a slight risk. The slow times did me no harm. It was just a chance to learn--and stretch--my limits. Later, Dave suggested starting with my regular group and then, if things went well, jumping in with the faster group. It makes sense. If we start in inverse order of speed, the faster group eventually catches up, and if I'm feeling good, I can try running with them at that point. If I fall off their pace, I can still drop back to my regular group. I liked that he didn't just say "you're too slow for that group." I think he understood that I wanted to stretch myself a little.

October 13: Attempted 90 minutes but did 82. Stopped at my mom's grave and found that the flowers Liz and I had brought there on 9/26 were gone. I felt so hurt, sad. Found someone who worked at the cemetery, and he told me they cleared everything away at the end of September, but to wait a few days, and the section with Mom's grave would be cleared. Then if anything was replanted, it would not be moved. I found a little artificial daisy and set it next to the gravestone--to stand in for the real thing until we could come back to replant. But I was very low energy and sore after that, couldn't focus too well. Of course, I think it was partly also because of having run since Saturday with no off-days. Decided to take the next day off. And, Mom, we'll be back with real flowers!

October 14: Took day off from running--much needed recovery day.

October 15: Felt better on and was able to run 47 minutes with no difficulty.

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