I did 5.2 on Saturday with Child Two in the jogging stroller. I had him bundled up and had the rain shield down to keep the wind off of him so I couldn't completely hear all of his patter but he kept up an almost continuous stream of commentary for the whole run. We went later in the day and he kept saying how it was getting dark, and it was nighttime. It was fun. There were a couple of stops to adjust his Froggy Friend and his blanket and I covered the distance in 49 minutes. Not blazing, but not bad either, and thee was a point along the route where I really felt the joy of running. We were on long, straight, flat, quiet road -- running basically down the middle -- and I wasn't thinking about much except the great sense of motion and movement I was feeling at that time.
Sunday was a different matter. I went out in a pretty stiff snowfall and did 8.1 in a glacial 88 minutes. Traction was lousy, visibility was lousy in parts as I ran into the wind and the route I picked was hilly. I walked every 1.5 miles or so and swigged my water and I brought a light snack of pretzels and yogurt-raisins and this helped my energy, though I have to admit that right now this distance is a bit longer than I feel ready for. I don't know how much to factor conditions into this pace, but they definitely impacted me. Never the less, I got out and did it to it. I had hoped to be covering 20 miles/week for a month prior to training but now I'm finding myself ramping up training mileage and training for a marathon at the same time. Not optimal, and not my usual method, but I figure the best way to get fit is to push and go long.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Big Weekend
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2 comments:
Impressive weekend. I had a 10 miler scheduled, but ran out of time on Sunday and skipped it. Good for you for getting it in and sticking with it in crappy weather.
Remember that even marathon training is a marathon, not a sprint. Cut yourself breaks early on, so you have energy and health for the long haul. They generally say not to skip the long runs, so awesome job, but don't let the schedule overrule your body while you're ramping up.
Enough preaching. Kick-ass post. Kick ass weekend. Nice work.
Thanks, man. Believe me, I'm going to cut myself slack but I felt it was important to habituate to the long run right off the bat. I cut two miles off of it because I knew 10 was beyond me -- the snow really made it tough going. I also practiced eating on my runs which is something i didn't do much of last time I ran and also walking to drink. I was reading the pointers on that Hal Higdon site and it was interesting.
A new approach to M training for me. I'll keep running and posting and let everybody know how I'm doing. I'm also thinking about sharing that Spread sheet on the web so folks can see it and track my progress -- you can do it through google docs.
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