A whole lot of I

I survived my week without my family and my weekend with my college buddies. No hamstring pulls, lost wedding rings or near death on I-35. It’s good to have life back to normal, though I’m actually on vacation this week. Rest up before the storm of school and soccer and all that.

I managed 60 miles last week, most of it in the first 4 days. I ran doubles Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday I ran easy 7 in the morning and moderate 5 in the evening. Thursday I ran 3 in the a.m. and a 7 mile fartlek in the p.m. That was a bit of a doozy at 4 minutes on, 3 minutes off. I picked that workout up from Daniels’ Running Formula. Basically it was 1200 meter repeats and I think I did 5 or 6 of them. Tough stuff.

I’m doing the doubles because one, I had time with the family gone, and two, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get miles in on the weekend. And I just wanted to try it. Wasn’t too bad, other than the time commitment required. It was run, work, run, eat, sleep for three days. My body felt fine, and in fact, I felt really strong on the evening runs.

I was at Lake Conroe over the weekend and optimistically hoped to run 10 or 12 on Saturday, but after a hard night and no sleep Friday night, being on the lake all afternoon Saturday and four games of volleyball Saturday evening, I could only manage 6. I thought the climate was actually more “pleasant” than Austin (still gruesome), but the bugs were horrible. I must have swallowed thousands. I didn’t have the mental fortitude to do my long run on Sunday when I got back, so I’m already missing long runs. Uh-oh.

I guess the week and weekend caught up with me today. Super tired and sore, either from the miles or the volleyball or the Sea-Doo or the lack of sleep, or all the above. I wanted to make the pace run this morning but I had to pick the family up from the airport at 1 a.m. last night, so that didn’t happen.

I ran 3 this morning (really just before lunch) and it was slow, but tough. That should have been a clue for my decision on whether to do the pace run on my own this evening. But I ignored it and ran the pace run anyway. I’m not sure what to think about it. It was supposed to be 10 miles, with 2 mile warm-up and 8 miles at current marathon pace. I was wishy washy the whole way, playing mind games to turn around or stop or cut it short or anything to get me out of it. My body felt terrible, my legs felt like lead. I managed to eke out a 2 mile warmup and 5 miles of pace run, with a 3 mile cool down. The cool down was touch and go on whether I would make it back to my car.

On the one hand, I feel good that I managed to even make it to five miles considering how I felt, the heat, I was solo, etc. But on the other hand I feel worthless and weak that I only made it to five miles considering I’m training to run, you know, a marathon. It was my first pace run of my training, so should I feel good or bad about that? I’m so far away, temporally and figuratively, and I’ve been having “meaning” issues. As in, what in the hell is the meaning of all this? Maybe I need to get back to the group. I’ve been running solo for a couple months now, but I’m kind of scared to get back into those grueling Gazelle speed, hill and pavement workouts. I don’t think my body is ready for that. I’ve got aches and pains all over, and I can manage them on the trail when I don’t have to ego race a workout or do one more Wilke. Still, I hope to get through this week (hit 70?) then ease back into Gazelles and the “normal” routine.

I don’t know, I’m just making it all up as I go. It’s the Daniels/Lydiard/Pfitzinger/Tuhabonye/Durden/Vance marathon training program. Sure to produce results, right?