Yesterday, I was supposed to do 8 easy miles, I ended up doing zero. I had woken up in the morning and was still a little sore from the race and long run on the weekend. I've read about people trashing their quads at Boston due to the downhill portions and I think that's what I was suffering from. I hadn't done any hill training and to suddenly do a half marathon with some steep downhills probably in hindsight was not a smart idea. I decided to skp the morning run and try and do it in the evening. I got back from work, ate dinner and thought that I'd head to the gym at about 9pm for the 8 mile run (it was raining) At about 7pm, I decided to take a 1 hour nap and the next thing I know it's 1am in the morning. Oh well.
My main goal for the Chicago marathon was to average a 7:45 min mile and to finish with a time of 3:23. My recent half marathon estimates that I'm now in 3:20 shape. I have to admit that a part of me wants to back off on the training and coast into Chicago and perhaps subconsiously, my brain has figured out a way to do that. I know that I have to keep pushing to see how well I can do and not just meet some arbitrary goal that I had set several months ago, but I got to admit that the motivation is waning a bit.
Having said that I got up in the morning today determined to do the VO2Max workout that was planned. 9 miles with 5x1000m @ 5km pace. The universe of course decided it had to rain on my parade by literally raining on my parade. It was pouring outside. Even so I headed out with a 3 mile warmup to the local track. My left shin was giving me some pain, but I thought it was jsut stiffness. I started into the workout and did the first km in 4:10 and then did the second in 4:17 which was way off my expected pace and my shin was hurting even more. I realized at this point that I should stop as I was going to risk hurting myself. I ended up walking home. I thought at the time that the shin pains are being caused by the Saucony shoes which have worn down and are changing my running gait. I still had my trusty old Adrenalines which are getting close to their 300 mile limit, but the tread still looks okay, so I ended up retrying the VO2max workout after work. That worked out much better. Split time including recoverys were:
| Lap Time | Max | Avg |
| 04:00.0 | 183 | 174 |
| 01:55.9 | 182 | 156 |
| 04:03.3 | 186 | 177 |
| 01:58.3 | 185 | 160 |
| 04:05.6 | 185 | 178 |
| 01:58.3 | 185 | 159 |
| 04:06.9 | 186 | 179 |
| 01:58.5 | 186 | 161 |
| 04:07.6 | 187 | 179 |
No shin pain. In total I did about 4 miles in the morning and 5 in the afternoon. It's 9 miles total as planned albeit split over two runs.
As for the film festival, I'm enjoyed most of the films I've seen so far. Now in years past, the film festival has offerred at least one movie with titalating subject matter. Movies that come to mind are 9 songs and Twentynine Palms. This year was no different with the movie Shortbus featuring real sex (which also includes between people of the same gender). For some reason, I don't think that this will be generally released in theatres. I really looking forward to tomorrow as I have 4 films planned which includes The Fountain.
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3 comments:
Stellar track work, shhhhh don't tell anyone I skipped those 8 miles as well. It was raining and I just did not feel like it.
Nothing wrong with backing off/taking off an easy day - especially the week after a long race. Nice job with re-trying the VO2 workout.
The calculators are great, but just keep in mind that they may not be accurate for everyone especially for longer races.
Just because it says 3:20 doesn't mean it's a given. Keep working hard. We only have a 2+ more weeks till the taper. You can slack off then.
I think I'm further off the wagon than you! At least you bothered to run. I am glad filmfesting is almost over. I pried myself away from trying to rush too many tonight.. it's the first time in a week that I've been home before midnight.
Limited myself to one flick: The Book of Revelation. Tomorrow, it's all a game of rush lines. Will look to squeeze in a run. Just to come back to reality, I guess.
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