Friday, October 06, 2006
Supermarket Bound
I have a test in 4 hours. Naturally, I find this as prime motivation for me to post on this site...
So when we left off, I had just gotten through Wednesday. Even now, I can still say that I feel 'it' in my legs throughout the day -- but I've had enough comebacks (I'd count 3 this year, at least) that this is just how it goes. Still, it's difficult to ignore the effects that it has on my daily runs as well as my scheduling.
Yesterday, after a short and productive meeting with Senor Pistola, I went home and met Train for a 6:15pm jaunt. It was dark when we got out the door and as we ran our warmup mile towards the statue of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, we agreed that it was kinda nice when it was overcast in the early evening because the clouds offer reflective light from around the city onto our otherwise dark and uneven paths.
Then it rained on us pretty hard. Nothing you can do about that but I think it was a good reminder to me that this wasn't going to be a short run and that comfort might have to take a back seat at some point.
We both had long runs in mind but his didn't include the path around Reid Park. We split about a block past the UA track. I didn't see him again until I got home.
I felt good and noticed we had been holding back for those opening couples miles so I held the pace to the park where I dropped in on WOG. I really wanted to get back to my run but I would feel like I dick if I didn't at least say hi. Mike and Randy (really, the only two people I know at WOG) were doing something on the track and didn't notice me as they ran by. I sure as hell wasn't going to interrupt so I chatted a bit with Lucas and got back on my way. I was less than a third done and this was supposed to be one long effort.
I never really fell back into a groove from this point and that made for a long and annoying run. I stopped for some water at Alvernon and Broadway and immediately felt like the wall got some tires, an engine, and any other necessary parts and just came and hit the shit out of me. It came as quite a surprise until I realized that I only had eaten two sausage mcmuffins and a xoom juice all day. Luckly, I had picked a loop route (and I was now at the furthest point) so there was no way out of it. As I took off, I decided to just try to continue my pace, rather than try to reason with the inevitable bonk that was sure to come.
Fellow Dragon runner, J, stopped me on my second pass through Reid. We discussed rosters and uniforms for bit -- which I appreciated because it gave me some rest -- but then he mentioned he was going to Rocco's pizza and that just reminded me that I had a couple more miles to go. The hunger kicked in so just I had to get out of there.
I made it back to Kino's statue before I really bonked. I ended the run in 61:30 (90 seconds over last weeks effort on the same route), stretched, and persuaded Train to join me at Bumsteads for a sandwich and drink. I had their special -- which was like a fishbowl full of liquored-up fruit. He had an MGD Light.
When I awoke this morning, I saw that it was finishing up raining (probably the storm that ChampionsEverywhere got caught in) so I headed out the door for a recovery day. I knocked out less than 30 minutes of morning storm-fresh trotting in hopes of preparing myself for an effective weekend.
Right now, I am optimistic because I've reached last week's mileage on 5 runs and I still have tomorrow (and this afternoon as an option) to get in more miles. My goals for the week of 10/8 are to increase my mileage to over 35 for the week, have two legit efforts over 1 hour, and to get off the flat ground -- and into some sort of hillness -- for at least one run.
Alright, now I can study.
So when we left off, I had just gotten through Wednesday. Even now, I can still say that I feel 'it' in my legs throughout the day -- but I've had enough comebacks (I'd count 3 this year, at least) that this is just how it goes. Still, it's difficult to ignore the effects that it has on my daily runs as well as my scheduling.
Yesterday, after a short and productive meeting with Senor Pistola, I went home and met Train for a 6:15pm jaunt. It was dark when we got out the door and as we ran our warmup mile towards the statue of Father Eusebio Francisco Kino, we agreed that it was kinda nice when it was overcast in the early evening because the clouds offer reflective light from around the city onto our otherwise dark and uneven paths.
Then it rained on us pretty hard. Nothing you can do about that but I think it was a good reminder to me that this wasn't going to be a short run and that comfort might have to take a back seat at some point.
We both had long runs in mind but his didn't include the path around Reid Park. We split about a block past the UA track. I didn't see him again until I got home.
I felt good and noticed we had been holding back for those opening couples miles so I held the pace to the park where I dropped in on WOG. I really wanted to get back to my run but I would feel like I dick if I didn't at least say hi. Mike and Randy (really, the only two people I know at WOG) were doing something on the track and didn't notice me as they ran by. I sure as hell wasn't going to interrupt so I chatted a bit with Lucas and got back on my way. I was less than a third done and this was supposed to be one long effort.
I never really fell back into a groove from this point and that made for a long and annoying run. I stopped for some water at Alvernon and Broadway and immediately felt like the wall got some tires, an engine, and any other necessary parts and just came and hit the shit out of me. It came as quite a surprise until I realized that I only had eaten two sausage mcmuffins and a xoom juice all day. Luckly, I had picked a loop route (and I was now at the furthest point) so there was no way out of it. As I took off, I decided to just try to continue my pace, rather than try to reason with the inevitable bonk that was sure to come.
Fellow Dragon runner, J, stopped me on my second pass through Reid. We discussed rosters and uniforms for bit -- which I appreciated because it gave me some rest -- but then he mentioned he was going to Rocco's pizza and that just reminded me that I had a couple more miles to go. The hunger kicked in so just I had to get out of there.
I made it back to Kino's statue before I really bonked. I ended the run in 61:30 (90 seconds over last weeks effort on the same route), stretched, and persuaded Train to join me at Bumsteads for a sandwich and drink. I had their special -- which was like a fishbowl full of liquored-up fruit. He had an MGD Light.
When I awoke this morning, I saw that it was finishing up raining (probably the storm that ChampionsEverywhere got caught in) so I headed out the door for a recovery day. I knocked out less than 30 minutes of morning storm-fresh trotting in hopes of preparing myself for an effective weekend.
Right now, I am optimistic because I've reached last week's mileage on 5 runs and I still have tomorrow (and this afternoon as an option) to get in more miles. My goals for the week of 10/8 are to increase my mileage to over 35 for the week, have two legit efforts over 1 hour, and to get off the flat ground -- and into some sort of hillness -- for at least one run.
Alright, now I can study.
