When I left the party I said, “if I do my ten (you know, the ten i’m running alone) in the morning faster than 80 minutes, come find me and beat me up.” Well, 72 minutes. So come find me. You’d think after everything I learned at the party (who was that bowl-cut cutie’s daddy anyway?), and still smarting from the rejection of my fellow Gazelles, I would take it easy. And I guess I did in the sense that I kept a very steady pace except for the last mile, and that pace never seemed too labored. Anyway, it was 7.24, 7.12, 7.09, 7.04, 7.07, 7.09, 7.08, 7.09, 7.01, 6.40. As i was running though, I was thinking, how in the hell did i run 6.31 pace for the half. Sure it was 3M, not the much more meaningful American Telegraph & Telephone, so the downhill course was probably worth 10 seconds, and the tailwind another 10, but still, that pace seems out of reach sometimes, like someone else ran it. Then again, in 2006 I ran the 3M at a 7:10 pace, almost exactly what I ran today on my “long, slow run”. So I’m confused.
Yesterday was my first day back in the pool and back on the bike in 6 months. The bike was painful. The swim was pleasant. With winds at 25mph, even the short ride I did was grueling. Let’s speak no more of it. But the 1000m in the pool was a relative joy. You swimmers and tri-heads out there probably laugh, but to me, swimming 1000m is like a running a half-marathon — near the peak of my current endurance. But this day I felt like I could have easily kept going, even though my body was aching at about 200m. I just settled into a slow rhythm and splish, there I was.
I’m trying to formulate my race schedule for this spring and summer. I’m torn between focusing solely on running, and re-focusing on triathlons. There’s no reason I can’t do both of course, but I really want to improve as a runner, and am wondering how to do that and fit in swimming and biking. Lots of people do it, but lots of people aren’t me.
On the other hand, the Texas tri series looks appealing, and I think i’d like to try a half-iron. But I can’t swim. I never will be a good swimmer, so all tris are probably just futile. And cycling requires such a huge time committment, and if you want to be good, a big equipment committment as well. But I really enjoy doing tris. Usually. Then there are things like the trail series, the summer stampede races, this thing in Tulsa in November to train for, etc.
Whatever shall I do?
A young sage once said, “I doooo it!”
There is no tri, only doo.
What would the sages say? “I just want to do what I want to do.”
The season for merely running will soon pass, I believe.
Decent effort, that 72 min 10 miler. Just move that (getting faster as you improve) to a Saturday, and then on Sunday do your 8 min pace when you’re tired, not rested, for maybe 10+ miles, and then slowly build that up. Then if you decide to run a marathon you’ll have a head start on the long runs. Then easy distance on Monday, Wed, Fri, Gazelles on Tues, Thur.