The quest for success is also a funny thing. What you perceive as success one minute, would be old news the next, and then whats next. I think about this concept all the time. I love the journey. Mostly when I talk to other runners who are successful they also enjoy the journey. Coaches are bathed in the journey. Putting one foot in front of the other, asking yourself what can I do today to be better for tomorrow and then next day you do the same thing. It is the 4th straight year of developing this mindset with regard to running. I cruised this week because it was a recovery week and I felt outstanding. The pace was "easy" all week and I was faster then I have ever been. Funny. Here is how my week went:
Monday-Off
Tuesday-Hill repeats. I ran the same course as last week but added 2 more repeats. They are 1/2 mile on and 1/2 mile off. I did 4. My goal was to have an easy 1.5 to the hill, hill X 4, 1 mile cool down. Each hill I wanted under 8:00. I was fired up for this run and I could not hold myself back on the warm up. That was 8:45 pace. Then I hit the hill at 7:45, 7:50, 8:20 (brain fart), and 8:02. Then 9:15 as a cool down. 6 miles total. At lunch so it was still hot. I was happy about this. The 3rd repeat I just thought I was going the right speed and I wasnt. I mentally checked out. I got it back on the 3rd one.
Wednesday-Easy progression run. It was supposed to easy. I couldnt hold myself back. It was not what I wanted but I was out there and feeling awesome. It was supposed to be an hour and I wanted to progress each 20 min chunk. I ran with the faster group and I wanted to see if I could hang with them. Here are the splits: 9:52, 9:32, 8:19, 8:20, 8:24, 8:48. I decided not to push it since I was supposed to be recovering. I felt awesome.
Thursday-Rest
Friday-Shakeout, easy run. KD and I decided to turn a shakeout run we do when the girls do their pregame run into a scambling event. Then we finished up 3 more miles. My watch says I went 4 miles but I must have went a 1/2 mile up. It was a blast. Easy 4.
Saturday-Race and travel day, no running.
Sunday-I wanted 7 easy miles. The route was the 6 tunnels route. I went "easy" and was able to run it without walking and even close to walking. Even in the end of July I could not do that. Today was 6 minutes faster than the last time I ran this and I wasnt even pushing at all. I ran the hills, I felt amazing. I was thinking about whether or not the difference is physical, emotional or what. Its both. I was just cruising today and it was 9:15 average. Awesome weather, great run, and so happy about it.
Tomorrow-12 miles. Long run. Looking forward to it.
Stats: If all miles are complete tomorrow it will be 37 miles. Weekly mileage goal was 35. Specialty run was not accomplished but the overall week went well. approximately 180 miles in the last 30 days. By far and away my biggest month of running. Quote:
"You must give up the person you used to be, to become the person you want to be"
Les Brown (something close to that)
1 comment:
Ron, nice recovery week. You are doing a great job! Recovery weeks don't mean just easy running, it just means less volume, and you are starting to understand that. AWESOME!
I just read an interview with US marathoner Josh Cox and they asked him what he would say if he could send a message to his 22 year old self. Part of it was, "you’ll wreck your truck, have to buy a 10 speed bike, run before work, bike to your job, work all day, bike home, and run again. You’ll lay on the floor and stare at the ceiling fan wondering if this pursuit will ever pay off… Don’t worry; it does, in so many amazing ways. Don’t give up, don’t waiver, believe in your dreams, and always follow always follow your heart."
Ever think about what you would tell your 22 year old self?
Sounds like a good blog post topic to me.
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