Week 3- 19.4 miles
Week 3 began with a whimper. I could not get to sleep after the Giants win against Dallas so I slept in as late as my daughter would let me on Monday the 14th. Besides, this would be a scheduled easy week of 20 miles.
Tuesday, I doubled up and ran 4.4 miles by my house in 52:36, an 11:57 pace. The first 3 miles were pretty even and sedate. The last mile was faster to take a shot at getting it in under a 12:00 per mile pace. Wednesday, I took the scheduled rest day with an hour of easy yoga since that had worked so well the day before the previous week’s 12-miler.
Thursday the 17th was a seasonable 41 degrees. The goal was 8 miles. This was a test of how well extending the long runs did in making shorter runs seem like a snap. After a 12-mile run, 8 miles should seem more like “only” 8 miles than “8 miles? I don’t know about this!”
It turned out to be “only” 8 miles. Before I started with yoga, I used to carry a lot of tension in my feet and my neck while running, cracking my toes and popping my vertebrae every walking break. Now, everything stays loose as long as I’m not pushing the pace. A 12:27 pace wasn’t pushing the pace exactly, but it’s a little quicker than normal for me. 8 miles in 1:39:38 put it just under the 100-minute goal. Not that I was looking to be fast. I’m just happy to be here, Coach.
The 2.2 miles on Friday were a little slower because of windy conditions. With the serpentine course, the wind shifts every minute or two. It may just be a personal thing with me, but I’d rather have the wind steady on an out-and-back course than be blown sideways over and over, left and right. You can lean into a headwind. You can’t run leaning sideways; the gusts stop and *BONK* you’re eating a strange mailbox. (”Ethel! That curly-headed running kid is choking on our catalogs! Get the hose!“) I finished in 27:13, a 12:22 pace, keeping just a nodding acquaintance with those mailboxes.
I headed back to the reservoir on Saturday the 19th for at least 3 laps, which turned out to be exactly what I did in 57:56, a 12:04 pace. Nothing special, but I didn’t feel comfortable pushing the distance or pace, not with that energy bill outstanding. Sunday, I didn’t run. I did go bowling early with my family, then moaned through the Giants/Green Bay game later, until Tynes finally put it through the tines. (Scott Norwood, your name came up again.)
It was a week that came as advertised. 19.4 miles were completed against a 20 mile goal. Nothing was too fast or slow. Nothing crazy occurred. No injuries. Even the voices in my head were pretty quiet. OK, Critic told me I was gonna eat a mailbox with a side of hose water, but things were quiet otherwise. Week 3 made it 60 miles even in 20 days. Which means…wait…40 miles in the remaining 11 days? Where’s my damn Easy button?
This entry was posted on January 28, 2008 at 11:16 pm and is filed under endurance, health, inner dialogue, jogging, running. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: coach, critic, Easy button, endurance, energy, Giants, health, jogging, mileage, pacing, running, weather, yoga
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