Archive for March 4th, 2009

Gorgeous run yesterday at around 5pm, albeit chilly at 18 degrees windchill. I rarely go running that late so to see the sun set on the river was one of those moments you wished someone was with you so you could say, “Wow, look at that.”

Today’s run, a 12-miler, was bound to be an interesting one because in the midst of it was Hudson’s fartlek concoction: 15x(1min @5k pace, 1 min. recovery). All I can say is, If Fartlek is synonymous with “play” and “fun” then hey, I want my money back.

Actually, the blame is my own. I was using the Garmin for pacing information but it kept taking about 30 seconds to lock into the lap pace, so I kept thinking I was running 7:xx (and being pissed at myself about it) until it would suddenly show “6:3x”. If I paid more attention to my effort level, I wouldn’t have needlessly worked quite so hard. So anyway, was shooting for 6:50s, got 6:40s.

No matter, I get to try it again on Sunday’s 15-miler. It calls for the same fartlek session along with an additional 2 miles “hard”. I just have to catch up on sleep because I’ve been lacking in that department which is probably part of the reason today seemed tough.

But I’m jumping ahead as usual, because Friday brings a notable run, as well. 10 w/6@Half pace. I haven’t done a 6mile tempo since marathon training, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m assuming he’s talking current Half pace since 3 weeks later he asks for 5 @goal Half pace. Cool, I’m down wit dat.

I also made some race decisions: I’m going to do a 5-mile race on March 14th, but instead of prepping for it like I did the 10k, I’m just incorporating it into my week with a few slight mileage adjustments the two days before. Not looking for anything amazing, but there are so few 5-mile races (I’ve only run one) that it’s as good a time as any to update my 2007 PR.

I also made the executive decision to forgo my beloved Clean Air 5k this year in favor of a 10K that same weekend. It makes so much more sense to do the 10K because it’s 3 weeks before my Half, there’s no better goal indicator than that.

So now all I need is to blank my mind from how miserable I felt during the last couple miles of Sunday’s race, the better to enjoy the coming one. Thank god for selective memory.