Dragons

It seems that everything this week is probably going to be feeling a little too good. As I mentioned in my last post, this week was going to be a bit of a cycle down week and that would have worked out well with a solid 8k on Saturday. However, with last week being the easy one, I'm in the midst of wrapping up last week's efforts. This means knocking out my third edition of the 20 minute tempo and the second of my hills repeats. Now it may be the rather fresh feelings in my legs or my new Speedstars, but I'm optimistic about the way things are going.

Right about now, I am due to be bitching about how damn hot it is outside. With temperatures soaring into the 70's, it's no surprise a bike to school in the 15 mph winds feels more like a ride through my oven during an intense holiday baking session. But, as you can see, this isn't what I'm talking about. THAT is how excited I am.

I opened this week with an easy 7 on ODC parkway. I've decided that my off-day runs are simply going to start at 7:30 or so and just come down. It's actually noticeably more comfortable for me and leads to better runs that leave me feeling like I had more to give. And what do I care if that's how anyone else rolls? I run alone damn 98.33 (repeating of course)% of the time.

Then today was scheduled that third (and final) shot at the 20 minute tempo at 6:20. This was the first workout of my new training attempt and after performances of [6:15, :29, :31] and [6:24, :19, :21], I was ready for the cornerstone of the Rule of 3 -- Perfection. I had originally planned to knock it out this morning but, being me, I didn't get out of bed in time and so I headed over to Reid Park about 5 this afternoon. Honestly, I didn't even want to go then, but I had just finished reading Mike's post about his day 2 of his 7 miles at 6 minute pace and I was insprred. No, not because he was back-to-backing a further distance at a faster speed than I would be attempting -- but because the man is working hard. I've never been (and will never claim to be) a man who works hard for myself (My summer internship allows me to wear jeans, come on!). Simply put, that is the easiest way to explain how I've gotten this bad at running (also weight gain). But Mike's post reminded me of a few things -- I have a team, we have a race coming up, and my teammates are running hard.

I might as well be running hard as well.

Anyways, the wind had picked up and as I yogged to Reid, I thought about switching it up and running counter-clockwise today. In my statics class, counter-clockwise is considered positive and my crazy-ass professor seems to be on the ball. Yeah, it's still the same loop -- but if I started by going south, I could have the wind to my back for the second mile (usually where I really feel the struggling) and that was really my concern for the day. Unable to decide for the 20 minutes it took for me to get there, I made up my mind at the last second (kinda like I do at restaurants) and just headed out the same way as always.

My focus for the start of the run was simply to take it easy so that I could roll into the second mile with some momentum. Still, I couldn't shake my memory of last session's 6:24 opener and after turning into the headwind along Alvernon, I clicked my watch at a 6:16 opening mile. Without time to worry about 4 seconds (really less, it was 6:16 and change), I was ready to approach the real obstacle. My weakest link -- this second mile -- in the wind, after going out too fast.

The two previous times, I tried to use this portion of the run to 'fall into pace' but found that I failed both times as I tend to ease off -- and then settle in. This time, with the gusts of wind coming, I decided to lay off the cruise control and just handle this one myself. Coming through at 6:13, I got my second wind and knew it would be smooth sailing from here. I would have liked to have been able to be mature about this one and just relax back to around 6:18 or so but I was enjoying this work out (something that hasn't been the case for months -- and has never happened on doing a workout alone) and turning back along the Reid Park parking lot, I began thinking about how pleased I was that I wouldn't have to throw up a post of shame on this one. In fact, it was right about where I passed that starting point that I thought about using that Leeroy Jenkins gem about a decimal "repeating, of course." Anyways, mile 3 was 6:12 and I finished up the 20 minutes significantly further than I had the previous two times. Then, on the run home, I had a legit cooldown instead of the ultramarathon pace I was throwing up before.

As you can see from just how much I wrote about this, I'm pleased with this effort. Not only do I feel my general running is improving, I am getting comfortable running alone. This was something I struggled with for some time but being able to running a solid effort consistently on my own is encouraging from my position.

So coming up will be session II of the hill workout at Sabino. I'll probably do this on Friday afternoon. Last time it was 15 minutes of 90 second efforts. I still need to get direction on how to 'improve' on it this time.

Other than that, I'm just chasing miles.


Subp0wned -- 8k for 88Crime -- This guy's recruiting my little bro