Day 29
Boston Qualifying Training. Up late watching the Giants game, I was glad that the tempo run was to take place at lunch today rather than 5:30 AM. The game last night was a good one that came right down to the last seconds of the game and decided by a field goal. The Giants won. Jack stayed up and watched the game with me… it was way too late for him to be up, but it was a great father son moment.
Morning came and I drove Wil to school… too much rain and lighting, I did not want him at the bus stop. We talked about the Giants, but more importantly the two teeth he lost this weekend. One upper and one directly below. It make for the perfect “kid” smile. Jack and I taught him how to spit out of the new whole he had in his teeth as well as how to stick a straw in there for slurping up chocolate milk. Fun stuff.
Lunch came and off to LTF. Jay who is tapering was to meet me, but he is preparing for a race this week and will not be hitting it hard. I was on my own. Track, love it! Long runs… get it done…, tempo runs. Tough, always tough.
As I am walking to the treadmill, I see Corey and we talk about the up coming race and this past weekends bike ride. I think how I would have liked to have participated, but remember my goal and don’t think about it any more.
Working my way to a good spot, I see Lisa Marshall, Vickie Cherry and John Adamson, all tremendous athletes; John a Hawaii Ironman winner, Lisa a National triathlon top ten, and Vickie, another good athlete. We talk for a while and I push myself on, this workout will not be over until I get it started.
I do the warm up 2 miles at an easy pace, it feels good but I sense I am working too much for an easy pace. I think about how much easier it is to do this outside on the road, but the weather is bad, real bad and I want the treadmill to keep my pace, something I struggled with last week.
off I go... the first two miles are boring and uneventful, other than I am working too hard and trying to find form.
With 2 miles done, I hit the speed button and my leg turnover immediately increases. I think about the winter I had my greatest increase in speed and remember spending months on the treadmill doing various speed workouts designed by the “Cheetah Speed” club out of Minnesota. I know this is going to help.
Jay shows up and runs at an 8:00 minute pace beside me as I am turning a 7:13 pace. Jay keeps a nice easy pace and looks smooth the entire time. I am struggling, I look down and I have only gone ¼ mile. Rats! This is going to be tough. I try focusing on anything to take my mind of the fact that I am struggling, more so than I think I should be. Jay is listening to his iPod, no conversation today. I look up at the various screens, nothing there to hold my attention or better said, distract me from the difficulty I am having running at this pace.
Last week I was running almost this same pace, but it was outside and seemed significantly easier. Oh well, not today. With nothing on the bank of TV’s and Jay singing to the left of me, I decide this is a time for me to work on being mentally tough. We all know that there are high spots and low spots in a marathon. It is the ability to hold down the high’s and use the energy as well as fight through the lows. I am dealing with some lows. Legs are tired, why, I just had two days rest. The ankle (the bad one) is wobbly, and not feeling stable at all. I throw those thoughts away and focus on good form for ¼ mile. As I am running Jay shouts out over his iPod… “hey this is the pace for Huntsville…” he is running right at 8:00 minutes per mile, “… This will be easy for 26 miles.” I give him a gratuitous "yeah", but I am thinking really. You yes, me, right know I have doubts. At this point I am 1.5 miles into the 3 mile tempo run, pace 7:13. Over the hump. I know everything at this point is a count down. I am tempted to speed it up more just to finish, but that will not help. Jay looks over giving me words of encouragement, he says, I look good, but I think he knows I am working with a great deal of effort.
I finally reach the end of the second mile, and the last miles goes by fairly quickly. My body had adapted to the speed, I am sweating and working hard. I see that they are showing highlights from the Giants/Cowboys game on a TV but it is way too far for me to really watch. I keep running. I look back down and there is only 1/4 mile to go… and done.
I drop the speed back to a 8:30 pace, it seems hard at first as my legs are worn, but I adapt pretty quick and that too goes by quickly. Done and done!
I am sweating almost as hard as it is raining outside. I go stretch and hit my core workout. It feels good. I shower, check my weight, 180.0 right on the money. I dress and head to the lobby.
The rain is ridiculous and nobody is leaving the LTF. I decide this is a good time to get my hair cut for 20 bucks. I chat with the girls up front and they set me up with Anastasia, a bleach blond from Russia. She is 20 years old and fun to talk to. Slight accent, but she’s been here since she was 8. I feel bad, because I realize I am still sweating from my workout. She asks me if I am hot… oh so many good jokes. I leave them alone. She says it happens all the time, people sit down and start to sweat after a hard workout. We talk about working out, and her previous place of work that was all female, too much gossip, she says. The haircut is brief for obvious reason. A quick shampoo and I am out the door.
The first day of week 5 is done. Swim practice and weights tomorrow.
Boston Qualifying Training. Up late watching the Giants game, I was glad that the tempo run was to take place at lunch today rather than 5:30 AM. The game last night was a good one that came right down to the last seconds of the game and decided by a field goal. The Giants won. Jack stayed up and watched the game with me… it was way too late for him to be up, but it was a great father son moment.
Morning came and I drove Wil to school… too much rain and lighting, I did not want him at the bus stop. We talked about the Giants, but more importantly the two teeth he lost this weekend. One upper and one directly below. It make for the perfect “kid” smile. Jack and I taught him how to spit out of the new whole he had in his teeth as well as how to stick a straw in there for slurping up chocolate milk. Fun stuff.
Lunch came and off to LTF. Jay who is tapering was to meet me, but he is preparing for a race this week and will not be hitting it hard. I was on my own. Track, love it! Long runs… get it done…, tempo runs. Tough, always tough.
As I am walking to the treadmill, I see Corey and we talk about the up coming race and this past weekends bike ride. I think how I would have liked to have participated, but remember my goal and don’t think about it any more.
Working my way to a good spot, I see Lisa Marshall, Vickie Cherry and John Adamson, all tremendous athletes; John a Hawaii Ironman winner, Lisa a National triathlon top ten, and Vickie, another good athlete. We talk for a while and I push myself on, this workout will not be over until I get it started.
I do the warm up 2 miles at an easy pace, it feels good but I sense I am working too much for an easy pace. I think about how much easier it is to do this outside on the road, but the weather is bad, real bad and I want the treadmill to keep my pace, something I struggled with last week.
off I go... the first two miles are boring and uneventful, other than I am working too hard and trying to find form.
With 2 miles done, I hit the speed button and my leg turnover immediately increases. I think about the winter I had my greatest increase in speed and remember spending months on the treadmill doing various speed workouts designed by the “Cheetah Speed” club out of Minnesota. I know this is going to help.
Jay shows up and runs at an 8:00 minute pace beside me as I am turning a 7:13 pace. Jay keeps a nice easy pace and looks smooth the entire time. I am struggling, I look down and I have only gone ¼ mile. Rats! This is going to be tough. I try focusing on anything to take my mind of the fact that I am struggling, more so than I think I should be. Jay is listening to his iPod, no conversation today. I look up at the various screens, nothing there to hold my attention or better said, distract me from the difficulty I am having running at this pace.
Last week I was running almost this same pace, but it was outside and seemed significantly easier. Oh well, not today. With nothing on the bank of TV’s and Jay singing to the left of me, I decide this is a time for me to work on being mentally tough. We all know that there are high spots and low spots in a marathon. It is the ability to hold down the high’s and use the energy as well as fight through the lows. I am dealing with some lows. Legs are tired, why, I just had two days rest. The ankle (the bad one) is wobbly, and not feeling stable at all. I throw those thoughts away and focus on good form for ¼ mile. As I am running Jay shouts out over his iPod… “hey this is the pace for Huntsville…” he is running right at 8:00 minutes per mile, “… This will be easy for 26 miles.” I give him a gratuitous "yeah", but I am thinking really. You yes, me, right know I have doubts. At this point I am 1.5 miles into the 3 mile tempo run, pace 7:13. Over the hump. I know everything at this point is a count down. I am tempted to speed it up more just to finish, but that will not help. Jay looks over giving me words of encouragement, he says, I look good, but I think he knows I am working with a great deal of effort.
I finally reach the end of the second mile, and the last miles goes by fairly quickly. My body had adapted to the speed, I am sweating and working hard. I see that they are showing highlights from the Giants/Cowboys game on a TV but it is way too far for me to really watch. I keep running. I look back down and there is only 1/4 mile to go… and done.
I drop the speed back to a 8:30 pace, it seems hard at first as my legs are worn, but I adapt pretty quick and that too goes by quickly. Done and done!
I am sweating almost as hard as it is raining outside. I go stretch and hit my core workout. It feels good. I shower, check my weight, 180.0 right on the money. I dress and head to the lobby.
The rain is ridiculous and nobody is leaving the LTF. I decide this is a good time to get my hair cut for 20 bucks. I chat with the girls up front and they set me up with Anastasia, a bleach blond from Russia. She is 20 years old and fun to talk to. Slight accent, but she’s been here since she was 8. I feel bad, because I realize I am still sweating from my workout. She asks me if I am hot… oh so many good jokes. I leave them alone. She says it happens all the time, people sit down and start to sweat after a hard workout. We talk about working out, and her previous place of work that was all female, too much gossip, she says. The haircut is brief for obvious reason. A quick shampoo and I am out the door.
The first day of week 5 is done. Swim practice and weights tomorrow.
What me worry
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