Thursday, February 01, 2007

Busted

I spend a good portion of my drive time home thinking about the run I will be doing when I get there. I already know the mileage to cover, I just have to decide what route I want to take. Today was no different.

Friday was a planned rest day, but because of my weekend plans I was considering moving the rest day to Sunday. I was even thinking of taking today off as well. I mentioned last week that Thursday is my long day. By the end of the day I'm tired. A day off sounded like not such a bad idea. I was thinking about my training in January. I've had a pretty good month. My mileage came in at 162.6, not the highest ever but right up there in the top 5. I had completed 3 weeks of 6 day/week runs and was well on my way through the fourth week. I had run 26 of 31 days, an 84% completion rate. I'd even added track workouts back into the mix.

I had been talking to my wife on the cell on the way home and we talked some more when I got home. All of a sudden she said, "I know why you don't feel like running today. It's track day!" Ah, she knows me well. I had put the track off on Tuesday due to the rain. I had no real excuse today. I was shamed into getting out there and over to the track by my non-running wife.

So I got ready to go but I had already decided that if the first 400 sucked, I would give it one more and then if it still sucked I would call it a day. Not exactly the best attitude going in but...

I made it over to the track after a 2 mile warm up. I hit the starting line and off I went. The first 400 came in at 1:43:54, not exactly stellar, but it didn't totally suck so I held my ground at the track. The second 400 came in at 1:41:77. Dang it all, it still didn't suck. I guess I was in for the long haul.

During my recovering lap I entertained the idea of going for an 800. It must be that elusive runner's high. How else do you explain going from "I think I'll take a day off" to "Let's try an 800." The 800 felt better than I expected it to. I got it done in 3:34:05 and didn't fall on my face at the end. My target pace for 800's is 3:18 to 3:27. I've still got some work to do but I was closer to the target than I expected I'd be. I ended the session with one last 400 at 1:42:40. All in all, not such a sucky effort after all.

I did only get in a total of 5 miles, when the schedule called for 6, but 5 is better than a DNS. Thanks! for busting me Dear .

Just in case you hadn't seen this comment way at the bottom of my last post, I'm reposting this from my wife: "...thank you Bloggers for the get well wishes. I am feeling much better now, thanks to the prayers and good thoughts sent my way."

8 comments:

Wes said...

162.6 miles? You slackard! I want you 10-15x my monthly mileage for February!! Isn't it wonderful having a luving person that knows your innermost fears and desires. Well, no. OK. I answered my own question :-) LOL.

Unknown said...

84%?!?! and you called yourself a runner... 162.6 miles?!? what are you doing? Training for a 10k...

I say all this with less than 50 miles and a rest week... *sigh*... to run 26 days would be... so sweet.

Anonymous said...

First and foremost, glad to hear your wife is continuing to mend.

Second, I'll append my congratulations on a good mileage month. I, along with many others apparently, have much catching up to do! I glanced at my speedwork "cheat sheet" and see that your 800 and 400 times fall well within my "dreaming to do" category. Good work!

Sarah said...

Glad to hear your wife is feeling better!

Nice effort on the speed work. I find that I many times don't feel like getting out there for a run. But I almost always do it and 99.9% of the time I'm glad I did!

And thanks for the shoe buying tip. I ended up purchasing some GTS 6's online at Holabird Sports. They weren't as cheap as STP (I think $64), but I was able to get some inserts too.

Backofpack said...

Nice month Darrell, and way to get yourself out the door and work hard.

Unknown said...

Nice job at the track despite the lack of motivation in getting out there.

Rae said...

Great job getting out there!! Motivation from family members and other RBFers really helps!!

Glad to hear your wife is doing well!! I guess she does read your blog =)

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

Hey U WEIRDO where is your LIST..Don't make me send Mr Soprano over to see ya :-0