Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Back in the Saddle


Day 44

Boston Qualifying Training. I find myself in a very familiar spot. As I have been doing most mornings on Tuesday, I wake at 5:00 AM, grab my gear and hop in the car. I back down the driveway, and make my way out of the neighborhood pointing my car to LTF for Masters Swim Class, just as I have done now for the last month and a half. But rather than joining my friends and other athletes in the pool, I am hit with the balance of life.

My destination this morning is the airport. An all too familiar spot, last year I spent every week in airports. This year I have been fortunate to significantly reduce the amount of time I am traveling. Today however business calls and the call is coming from Miami. As I write this I glance at the time and know the main set would be done, and pool water would be calming as swimmers would be cooling down with a social kick or a 200 meter cool down.

Back in the saddle

I hate to have missed the swim this morning it would have been number 12 in a row, not bad. Clearly the conditioning swimming provides is very effective in maintaining, even building my fitness on those days I am not hitting a quality run.

I will struggle to find a time to workout today, it is more than likely to not happen at all, my flight is an out and back and unless I can find a way to make an earlier flight, swimming will be out of the question today. My bigger goal is to get home early enough to tuck the boys in to bed and say good night.

Tomorrow may or may not require a trip to Tampa and another day trip; however it is my hope to close business on the phone and avoid the additional travel as well as cost to the company. After all, I know that my trip to Chicago on Thursday and Friday is unavoidable as I am a presenter and the world needs to know more about healthcare banking and concept of a “total cash and clinical data transaction platform” and its importance to real-time claims processing and revenue cycle management... oh and I get to go to Portillo's!

As I sit here I think about how diligent I have been on my training as this is the first workout that I will miss and Thursday will likely be the second. Frustrated sure, but reflecting on the work done so far I feel good and know that I need to stay consistent. Tomorrow I will hit my tempo run, 8 miles, 1 EZ 6 at a 7:45 pace and 1 EZ. I look forward to that run as well as the 13 miles at weeks end. I think the run at the end of the week will be very telling as I close out my 7th week of training. I am not concerned about the distance, heck I could do the marathon distance right now if needed, but rather how will the pace feel. I have always considered anything north of an 8:00 minute per mile pace pedestrian. This run will be 8:15, however after having spent the last several weeks running at a slower pace, 8:45, I wonder to myself about an 8:15. Earlier this year I ripped off 7:35 per mile for 13 miles and knew I had more in the tank. This will be different, but I will stay on pace and know that it is one step closer to my goal and the race that awaits me in December.

Will this running slower actually work… For thousands of others it sure has. For me, I expect it will, thought it is certainly an unknown road and gives me a lot to think about. What I do know is my past training with the concept of every run being focused on the goal time left me in considerable pain and unable to complete a full training program or with legs that were too tired to run when race day arrived.

On a family note, I pulled in the driveway last night Kim was putting the finishing touches to the Halloween decorations, they looked great. She has a great way of making our house a home. Entering the kitchen, it was warm with activity as the boys finished their homework and Kim had made a great pot of Crab Chowder, perfect for an autumn evening.

1 comment:

CSP said...

Dude, you are getting it. Pace is the key and not ripping one off. I am proud to know that you are hitting your goals. Great Job.