Tenslow

It’s been an up and down week of running. With any luck I'll get a few mile miles in today and tomorrow for a total of 30 or so miles and I'd like to think I'm getting back to a point where I don't feel like a total fraud when I say "I run".

Saturday it was cold and rainy as I headed out for a run through the park. I did explore a new route through an adjoining golf course and scoped out a section for a possible ¼ mile loop for the kids to work out on next year.

Sunday we hung back from the morning run, instead going after lunch to attempt the beach loop on the coldest day we’ve had in a long time. I made it to our 3 mile watering hole and feeling out of sorts, aborted the mission. “Its like someone just pushed me in the back and I’ve been falling forward the whole time”. Robin said “Don't worry about it. It’s like Maude (her pilates guru) says.. Not all days are the same”. I have not run less than half of what I set out to do in a long, long time.

Both days I’d barely cracked 9 mm pace for the average of the run.

Tuesday I ran out to the beach immediately after work, getting into a quick rhythm in the 8:30 zone, and feeling randy at the turn around point I threw in 6 x 1 minute of surge pace (which turned out to be a dismal 7 mm) followed by 1 minute trail pace recoveries (this wound up being 1.5 miles for 12 minutes) and cooled down the additional 2 miles home (remarkably around the 8:30 pace again) for 7 miles total which is a big day for my current state of volume/quality.

Last night I had in mind to run semi long and slow. The sun was setting as I crossed the 1st bridge and the temp was in the mid 50’s (very nice). I’d popped a handful of almonds into my mouth and chased it with a few sips of water before I left. I’d also tossed a gel in my shirt pouch in case I ran out of gas. Along the way I was thinking about the Tarahumara runners (I am currently reading “Born To Run”) and before I realized it, I had crossed the south bridge and was back on the mainland in the pitch darkness, 9 miles away from where I’d started and running faster each mile. I finished with a tad over 10 uninterrupted (the cooler weather has made it possible to run without stopping to drink) miles.

At home I slipped into the pool for an ice bath. My feet turned into frozen rocks and thought twice before deciding not to venture in beyond the kneecaps.