Dragons

We're a little over a week out from the Turkey Trot and our team still isn't registered. After Sunday's run on ODC (where I saw the lil' taggers) I caught Omni on IM and expressed my concern about our registration information. He assured me that there were no worries (I trust him when he says to relax) and we moved on to more important topics, one of which is that Nike likely won't have us our uniforms on time so, just for the Trot, we may be looking more like the District 5 ducks with the come-and-go coaches and ragtag outfits than the sleek, Gordon Bombay coached Mighty Ducks who got all their shit from Hans' store before the old bastard croaked.

Perhaps, in due time, we will make it on to be representatives of the United States in the Junior World Hockey Championships (defeating Iceland in penalty shots) and subsequently move on to some college where we will be the JV team that has all kinds of issues with the varsity team -- but I never saw the ending of D3: The Mighty Ducks, so I can't tell you how it all ends for Dragons.

After covering uniforms, the shitty conditions of his regional championship race, and talk of how much more I like Kyle Colavito than Jon Colavito (though both are Facebook friends with me), Omni asked some more about my training. I expressed to him, in the most honest terms I know how, that I felt like I was improving but I defintely wasn't where I wanted to be. Especially in terms of speed. I (like most people, I think) don't like the opening phases of speedwork. It hurts, your times are unimpressive, and, especially when you are alone, it's hard on the psyche. Add to it that 5k training requires long-interval sets -- something I hate -- and it's easy to see why I've managed to neglect this part of my training in recent weeks.

Okay...months.

Alright, look, I haven't stepped on a track without the intention of drinking before, during, and after the run in about 3 years.

This reminds me -- apparently Beer Mile '06 is in the works. J'll probably cover that more though.

Now, all of you in SAR will tell me, that's why there is WOG. And I'm gonna say, Bro, I'm not gonna argue with you, alright? And that'll be that.

Anyways, after a bit of whining on my part, Omni was helpful and laid it all out:

Man, you gotta go all anerobic 'til the race.

Ain't that the truth. But what workout could I actually be able to complete, benefit from, and not be wrecked until race day from doing? He sent me a complete workout -- distances, paces, and recoveries (because that is what I need, to be frank) -- and told me to get back to him.

So yesterday I looked at my little notecard that I had scribbled his suggestions onto. I knew damn well that I couldn't be trusted to not make up excuses to cut this one short, extend my recovery, and allow substantially slower splits. So when I wasn't looking, I knocked on Train's door and asked that he come out to the brand new track at Tucson High School in about 15 minutes to time me. He agreed and I took off.

The paces, as I went over them in my head, sounded blazing compared to the base-training-style runs I had been doing. To date, my fastest mile came at the end of a run on ODC where I dropped it down and kicked it in...and was still well-over 6 minutes.

I met Train at the track where I switched over to my spikes -- not because I thought they would offer any substantial help, but because my shoes just felt akward and tight so I hoped this would offer me some relief. The Tucson High marching band was practicing on the field so I was glad that I had worn my Pima Cross Country shirt for street cred. After a couple strides, Train offered me some words of encouragement and I was off.

Running to the new sounds of the THS band playing Radiohead combined with the fresh new track under my feet and my speedless condition really made me feel new to the sport all over again. I would have liked it if my junk woulda stayed inside my shorts better (I don't know what the deal with my shorts are lately but I'm gonna be sure to put a sticker on my blue adidas ones so I never wear them to a workout around minors again, less I end up on Dateline with all those child predators) and, honestly, I did end up having to do the last repeat in two parts but I would chalk it up as a worthwhile workout and a worthwhile day.

We went and got sushi afterwards and it was really good.

Today the calves are quite sore so I'll try to make it out to the track again either tomorrow or Friday; and probably on Monday should everything hold up alright.

We'll just call this the shortest, worst, most unneccessary taper ever.

So far this week (starting Monday): 8 miles with one track session.