Get After It!

Today I did my track workout. Yesterday would have been a better day for it, but when I woke up yesterday I felt tired. Wednesday's a.m. Tabata and p.m. tempo workouts left me so tired that I needed an easy day of running. I hadn't planned on the evening tempo on Wednesday, and it was only 5 miles, but it was 93 degrees when I did it. I felt like I needed to do it, so I pushed the pace. Sub 9s. My old body felt it in the heat, too.

So Thursday I just ran easy, a few with Iris in the cool morning, and more on my own later. Thursday was an unusually cool day until late afternoon when the clouds moved out.

This morning I needed to get my butt over to the track, it was heating up fast and I knew the sooner I got it done, the less I'd suffer. It was 70 degrees when I started and 79 degrees when I finished.

Again, 3 x 2000 m of mixed intervals, faster than last time, with 10 x 200 at the end. My 200s are finally picking up a little, even though I'm still slow, I made it solidly into the 43-44 second range and the turnover felt better. Getting that leg turnover back is a little easier this time. But until my 200s are averaging around 37 seconds, I'm not anywhere near what I used to be able to do. I'm still carrying about 5 pounds of extra lard that I packed on since late April. Hopefully that will be gone soon, too.

I ran in my Pearl Izumi H3s on the track and they were amazingly comfortable. I've been breaking into them slowly, given a nearly 30 year history of running in Brooks. I could not believe how good the H3s feel on the track surface. The true test will be how my body feels in a day or two, whether I feel any effects of running in those shoes. But while I was running, they felt awesome. I'm hoping I can get used to them over the summer and it would be great to be able to run the 12 hour race on the track in them in August in Wisconsin.

At the track it was quiet at first, and then surprisingly everyone started to show up. Crazy backwards running lady was there, too. Now that I know her habits, I don't mind sharing the track so much because I know she veers between lane 1 and lane 2, and every time we're 50 meters or so apart, she does move back into lane 2, so my fears of a head-on collision with her have been abated.

There was this one tall dude at the track today, with a heart rate monitor around his chest, and he was totally freaked out by crazy backwards running lady. He was trying to run in lane 2 and he's about twice her height. I'm not sure how they worked things out, but he was giving her the evil eye. He obviously hasn't shared the track with her before. It was weird to be on the track on a Friday. There were a lot more people there than I expected. I need to switch my track days back to earlier in the week.

Tonight I'll do an easy 5 miles, tomorrow I'll take it super easy, probably just a run with the girls, and then Sunday is the Estes Park marathon. So far the word is that the air quality hasn't been affected much in Estes Park. The fire is around 600 acres at this point and 30% contained. The problem with this one is that it has the potential to do damage to our drinking water supply here in Fort Collins.

My legs feel tired, but that's the way it goes until I get back to it. I have an easy week planned next week, because I have to work 4 12 hour shifts. But after that I can get going and get after it, as Wheaties Boy says.

I need to figure out my next marathon training run after Estes. It has to be within driving distance, and preferably I won't need a hotel room. There's a marathon in Aspen on July 6th. It's pretty far from the cabin and I don't know if I want to fight the crowds around the July 4th holiday. I'll have to look for alternatives. And no, the Leadville Marathon is not an option. I'm permanently retired from that one. I'd like to run something that takes me less than 7 hours to finish! Breathing is not optional...