April 22nd, 2009
Got through my speedwork yesterday, but the whole session was peppered with lovely internal spewing. It started before I left the house because I was really tired, not legs tired, just sleepy tired:
Me: “You just raced two days ago, you don’t have to do this, you know.”
Self: “But it’s my last key session, I might as well eek out everything I can from this body before race day.”
Me: “OK, but it’s totally cool if you take it down to 10k pace instead of 5k pace.”
Self: “Yeah, I guess, but did you not hear me? It’s my last key session…”
Me: “Alright, then here’s another alternative, if you feel like cutting it down to 5 reps instead of 6, that’s totally fine, too.”
Self: “But then I’ll be mad at myself for not finishing the workout!”
Me: “Now see that? You’ve done three already, you can bag that last one for real, it’s no big deal.”
Self: “But I’m on pace and it’s not killing me, but yeah, quitting early does sound tempting…”
Me: “C’mon, you’ve been working really hard all cycle, give yourself a break!”
Self: “Shut up Bitch, one more and I’m done.”
Workout was: 6×800@5k pace w/90sec. rec’s. I used my new 5K pace based on Sunday’s race, so my split paces were 6:43 (oops), 6:33, 6:30, 6:37, 6:34, 6:38, average 6:36. Plus 2.5 miles warmup and cooldown, so 9 miles total.
After that, besides my planned Easys, I’m doing a long tempo on Friday, then there’s a short speed session on Monday (3×1 mile @10k pace w/ 3min. rec’s.) and that’s it! Definitely my densest cycle of quality work ever, but I have enjoyed it completely.
Now the question will be about taking raceweek days off. Hudson calls for next Thursday and Saturday off though I’m at a higher mileage level than he expects, so I could get away with a 4-miler in lieu of Thursday’s off day.
Me: “You should just take the one day off, you’ve had this streak since March 2nd, why mess it up with two off days?”
Self: “Because it’s like those people who eschew gels on long runs, I’ll probably be extra fortified on race day by having two whole rest days after such a long spell! Besides, tapering is for real, it will only help in the long run (yuck yuck) to lay off an extra day.”
Me: “You win. But I’m still pissed that you called me a Bitch before.”
Self: 
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Okay, that was absolutely funny!!!!! I talk to myself like that all the time and sometimes I too you the B-word! Again, I love reading your blog! Thanks!
Oh yeah, one more thing. Take time and pamper yourself with some rest days. You deserve them and it won’t hurt your performance at all! At least that is my advice.
LOL! I love the internal debate. Too funny! And AWESOME workout, by the way.
Awesome post. I thought I was the only one with internal conversations.
Q?: Do you talk to yourself out-loud?
Do you answer yourself?
Happy Intervals!
Haha, Been there. Promising yourself that you’ll drop the last one or two always works!
Rest days? You could compromise with shortish recovery runs.
Um, yeah. What they said. My actual comment seems to have fallen foul of the spam filter or something
great, funny post. I think we all have some type of internal debate.
Flo, if you hear voices in your head, it’s perfectly normal. Perfectly normal. Really.
Ha! That was a very good talk you had with yourself. Awesome, awesome, awesome running lately. Keep up the good work.
I’ve heard of talking to yourself… but you took the cake!! You actually ANSWERED yourself… and kept at it!! Weird, very weird!!