Too Fast Wednesday

Day 31

Boston Qualifying Training. It felt good to get to bed early. I feel asleep quickly. My dreams were outrageous, but perhaps the last dream was the most telling. I had a dream I was in the hospital. I was having surgery done on my knees, specifically my medial and lateral collateral ligaments. I was talking to the doc as he was checking out my knee structure. At which point, they put a needle in my arm and I was out, blackness. I woke in my dream and was in the recovery room, I had small cuts on my knees, they were swollen and bloody. There were three scope cuts. I had a tube for drainage in both knees and the doctor was telling me that there was too much fluid building up. They sucked the puss out and I watched my knee drain. Next I was in a hospital room and talking to family, it was at this point I thought, why did I have the knee surgery now, I have a race coming up, there is know way I’ll be ready in time. I was trying to get out of the hospital and I had all these people that keep banging into my knees. Clearly I have my mind on the prize as well as some underlying concerns. At least we all had our cloths on and it did not get Freudian on me.

Track workout this morning. In addition to the speed, I think there is a lot of mental toughness that is built on the track. A considerable amount of discipline is needed for a good track workout. There is a group of 5 heading to the track this morning. We are all doing different workouts, 2 are tapering, 2 sticking to the marathon plan, 1 was there for the workout. I was on my plan. That said, I felt like I was running alone. I hit the track and was ready to go, one warm up lap, and off I went.

Clearly my concern was, "could I go fast enough". The problem, I was way too fast I could not seem to slow it down, first mile, 6:14. One minute later I start again, I hit the next mile with the first two laps right on, the next two progressively faster, finish time, 6:24 grrrr. One minute later I am off again. I am determined to hit the target 6:41. First lap… 1:38, 2 seconds fast, next lap, pace is held, two seconds off, close enough. I hit the third lap and I am now 4 seconds fast, but not bad. Last lap, I do not look at my watch, I just try to feel the pace. I end with a 6:32, 9 seconds fast. Better, however not great.

If I were to grade my performance this morning I would give myself a D-. The fact is I am not here to work on my speed, I am here to build and hold pace. Next week I need to be better.

I am mid way though my 5th week. I feel good and my weight is still hovering around the 180 mark. I weigh myself this morning 179.

This afternoon is filled with meetings and football. Tomorrow I am pushing for my 10th masters swim class in a row.