Starting Over

Last night I ran three miles, and then this morning I ran four miles. For about the last month, my training has been very poor. I've been tired, and taken quite a few days off. Last week, which I spent in Houston, visiting some of my wife's family, was particularly bad. Despite the fact that I got in a 10 mile run the first full day I was there, every time I ran it was a struggle to keep going.

J and I discussed the problem and decided that a little break, followed by a week or two of easy running would likely help. That idea was confirmed when I read a few pages in Run Strong about overreaching. Basically overreaching is a precursor to overtraining. It's trying to do too much, but not to the point of needing an extended break. I'm pretty sure that's what happened to me. The running itself was not necessarily too much, but when combined with work, family, lack of sleep, etc. it was too much. I took the last few days in Texas off as well as my first day back at home, and had a good run last night. I only ran three miles, but when I stopped I felt like I could have kept going for a few more miles.

Excuse Me

I got kicked off the high school track this morning. Well, not really kicked off, but asked to leave. I didn't think there was a problem and didn't really want to leave, but did any as to avoid any complications that would lead to me never being able to run on the track again.

The plan for this morning was 3.5 miles to warm up, 3-4 miles at more or less marathon pace (6:45-7:00) and then cool down. When I got to the high school, I passed a security guard in his car and then went down the hill to the track. I just knew he saw me, so I wasn't surprised when he got out of his car and asked me why I was running on the track. So I know exactly how far I've run, I said. The field is set up for graduation, he said, so you shouldn't be down there. OK, I understand, I told him as I ran up the hill off the track. Have a good day, he said as I ran by.

I ran over to the middle school track to do the workout. I really had wanted to run at the high school, which has real track, as opposed to the middle school's asphalt track. I ran 5000 meters in 20:57, with splits of 6:56 at 1600 meters and 13:42 at 3200 meters. I'm happy with the time overall, as the average pace works out to 6:45, but I would have liked to run more even splits. After the cool down I had 10 miles for the day.

What am I Doing?

The last few weeks my log seems to be more full of holes than swiss cheese. I've probably recorded zeros for half of the days. Of all the distances I could race, the marathon is not one I want to run woefully undertrained. So I've got to get in gear, stop thinking I'm too tired, I can't/shouldn't run.

Thanks to Duncan for this link. Dave's blog is inspiring and here's hoping he makes the trials.

Priorities

I haven't slept as much as I'd like the past few nights, so as I was cleaning up after dinner last night I was thinking, when I'm done, I'm going to bed. J was sitting at the table, reading the paper and doing a Sudoku puzzle. I finished cleaning, and told J I was going upstairs. She seemed a little upset about something. I came back downstairs, and we started talking, and the point was she was feeling ignored because after the kids were in bed, all I was concerned with was cleaning up and going to bed myself. She's spends all day with the kids, which while enjoyable is devoid of adult conversation, and then I just want to go to bed so I can get up and run. I felt pretty stupid. Certainly spending some time with my wife is more important than my running.

After last night's late night, I didn't run this morning. Monday and Tuesday were eight and ten miles respectively.

Finally, two random questions:
1. Has anyone ever ordered sunglasses from one of those magazine ads like the one that's in the current issue of Running Times? You only pay postage and handling. I've seen the ads before, but they always struck me as too good to be true. But on the other hand, I think if it was some kind of scam Running Times wouldn't be including them.
2. We've started potty-training Puff. Does anyone have any tips/suggestions to make it go faster/more smoothly? If you don't feel like discussing in the comments, email me. The address is in my profile.

Chasing Women

Yesterday I ran the Run After the Women 5k. It's called Run After the Women because it follows the Women's Distance Festival 5k. The short story is that I ran 19:05 and finished third overall.

Checking the results of last year's race gave me the idea that I could do pretty well. I knew who the winner of last year's race was, and when I saw he was running this year I figured I'd try to stick with him, since his winning time from last year was only a few seconds faster than my PR. When the race started, I was able to hang on for the first kilometer, and then he started to pull away. We went through the k in 3:38, and then I hit the the mile in 5:55. The winner continued to pull away, and I was passed by second place just after halfway, which I reached in 9:30. I struggled during the third and fourth kilometers, but was able to pick it up and run the last k in 3:40 to finish in 19:05. And unbeknownst to me before I finished the race and had a volunteer tell me "Stick around, we have some nice awards," this race actually had awards, and I won a $10 gift certificate to RNJ Sports.

I was really hoping to run about a minute faster yesterday. I wonder if the late nights and lack of running in the days leading up to the race took their toll and left me more tired than I thought. On the plus side, yesterday's mediocre result has given me even more motivation to get out and train hard.