While it was in no way easy, this past Saturday's 22-mile run with the Runner's World group was not quite as much of an affront to me as the 18-mile run I ran with them about 4 weeks ago; most likely because that 18-mile run gave me a serious dose of reality that I was able to keep at the front of my mind for the first 15 miles or so this past Saturday.
This morning's run was rough. I ended up labeling it a "Recovery Run" because my legs were still so sore from Saturday. It felt like I had never stopped running, like the 5 miles I ran this morning were just a continuation of Saturday's run.
The next two weeks will be devoted to mental preparation. A running "colleague" of mine told me on Saturday that I would want to quit. I believe him. As much as I want to finish that race, I know how I felt this past Saturday, and I know that quitting will cross my mind. I want to be ready for that.
On an indirectly related note, I realized last Thursday that my stopwatch (iPod) seems to have become inaccurate recently. I was wondering, after last Wednesday's PR by 7 minutes (in a 7-mile run), and after Thursday, a slow, recovery day, when my iPod showed another personal record, if perhaps there wasn't something wrong. After PR #2, I set my iPod and my Blackberry next to each other and started the stopwatch on each. Sure enough, the iPod was reading faster. Most likely, this was a result of an update I downloaded last weekend. This was disappointing, but I'm glad that I figured this out now rather than at the marathon. All the more reason to get a Garmin!
4-13-09
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 43:47
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:40
4-11-09
Distance: 22 miles
Time: 3:40:16
Avg. Mile Pace: 10:01
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10 years ago
Way to go on your 22 miler! It's normal for your legs to still be sore today, especially since the 22 miler was relatively hilly.
ReplyDeleteYou are doing great on your training. I can't wait to see your results in OKC.
Too bad about your ipod. I was wondering how you could have improved so dramatically on that 7 mile run. Wouldn't it be neat if we could download an update into our bodies that actually makes us faster.
Thanks Dave. I am feeling better today. Should be ready for my mid-week 7-mile run by tomorrow morning. And I really wish I could find an update like that!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, thanks for all the hard work over the past months with the track-mapping and training preparations!