Get Running!

12 miles. It's Friday and I have twelve miles this week. I was going to put in a longish run this morning, but I was nursing a touch of a wine headache. Bad, bad. Now I'm going out of town for the weekend and it'll be hard to get in the miles. I had a nice steady progession going. This week, I was going to do 30. I should be able to get in 10 over the 2 days.

I'll get in what I can over the weekend. I'm going to stop the used book selling that is interfereing with my run schedule (post office trips interfere with my running to work). I'd like to say I'll stop with the wine, but I'm about to move away form DC for Utah, so I suspect during my last weeks here, I'm going to try to get in as much social time as possible -- that'll probably mean more wine, not less.

Bring the Pain

Daily quote from Runner’s World:
"Learn to run when feeling the pain; then push harder." William Sigei, Kenyan runner.

That’s perfect for today. I didn’t get my run in yesterday because I had to get to the office a bit earlier than normal. So I upped the intensity today. In general, I think more intensity is going to be the guidance for my training for the MCM.

To get into running, I had to learn to take it easy. I simply focused on increasing mileage. Nearly every run was an “easy” run. The ones that weren’t, were usually long (at an easy pace or slower).

Now it’s time to bring the pain, get used to it, live in it. I bet most of what I have to do is convince the parts of my brain that I don’t control that going faster is something I can sustain.

Today I ran normally for the first ¾ mile. Then, I ran a mile at a quicker pace, aiming for 8:00, I came closer to 8:10. I took a quarter mile at a very easy pace, then did it again. I tried to do this three times, but ended up splitting that last mile up into two sections. The hills of the Custis trail definitely took their toll. Over all, just over 7 miles at an average pace of 9:17/mi. I feel good.

What hurts today: nothing. Well, actually my upper body is a bit sore from strength training the other day, but it’s a good sore.

Recovery Complete: Next Phase?

So I managed to take most of last week as recovery. I did about 12 miles for the week. I suppose some of the recovery value was lost in my over consumption of alcohol on Saturday. Bad me. My run on Sunday did not feel rested.

The group run last night went pretty well. I trailed in the pack as usual, but for once didn’t feel completely tired and unable to keep up. I suppose part of that was that we split into pace groups and us tortoises felt like we could be ourselves. Over all we did about 5.5 miles (a better distance for me than 3) and I kept a 9:35 pace. I’m pretty comfortable with that for now.

The group mentioned doing some group training in preperation for the Fall marathons, and it seems like a good idea. Those 20 milers can get lonely. The problem is I think that everyone that's on board for a Fall marathon is faster than me, so it may not be a good match.

I’ve been trying to be mindful of my abs and did those couple exercises in the article this morning. I’m planning on running home from work today and maybe throwing in a hill workout in the middle on the monster hill in Rosslyn.

Why the afternoon run, particularly as it gets warm? I had to take the books I’ve sold online to the Post Office this AM and it was just a bit much for the running pack. As with any project I start, I am momentarily obsessed. I’m pretty sure this one will fade. For one thing, I only have so many books. In the mean time, buy a book.

I went ahead and signed up for the Battle of the Boulevard 10k on May 12 and the Army Ten Miler on October 7 today. Sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon starts next Wednesday.