No learning and not enough fun

Interesting thing about the Congress Avenue Mile. I mentioned that the 1000 we did the previous Tuesday seemed like a pretty accurate predictor of our CAM time, and that holds true when looking more closely with this pace calculator. Witness:

me: 3.04/1000m predicts 4:56/mile (race time: 4:56)
duane: 3.06/1000m predicts 4.59/mile (race time: 5:00)
erine: 3:09/1000m predicts 5:04/mile (race time: 4:58)

Erine is obviously an over-achiever while Duane has been slacking. Don’t let him try to tell you about “lining up 3 rows back from the start.” I kid of course, but still, that 1000 doesn’t lie, does it?

Early Sunday morning after CAM I did a 10+ miler solo on the TLT. Splits: 8.15, 7.31 7.22 7.21 7.20 7.00 6.47 6.38 (1.03) 6.31 6.15. 1:12:07 total. Intent was a steady state, fairly easy run and as you can see it turned into a progression. Don’t know what happened. I felt fine the first couple of miles and noticed the pace creeping up and just went with it. The last couple of miles were a bit tough, but if that’s what it takes…. run how you feel, darling.

Monday morning I joined the Super Sensational Atomic Bomb Firecracker Sparkler Happy Fun Run for what we thought would be a pleasant micro-progressive run. T’were ’bout seven of us and we were moseying along around a pace of 8 a couple miles into it when Pied Piper Fletch suggested we pick it up. Scotty Mc took that suggestion to heart and took off like a pomeranian in a pig sty. Fletcher chased him, the rest of us kind of looked at each other, and I thought, “well, might as well go with them and see where it leads.” I didn’t want to get stuck in no-man’s land running solo somewhere between the two masters and the pack.

I don’t think any of us knew what the hell was going on. Scott later said he thought we were only going to pick it up for a mile, and Steve usually reins stuff like that in, but he didn’t say anything so I thought I’d see if I could hang. I hung ok. Basically it turned into a 5-mile tempo run, with the last three at something like 6:20, 6:15, 6:14. Maybe 7.5 in about 50 minutes and change. One of the toughest non-race runs I’ve had in a good while. I hit a threshold pretty early and just stayed there, but it makes you strong mentally, those kind of runs. I like that.

Circuit yesterday, an easy PBJer today. My coaches would be proud, I resisted the temptation to hammer it home, maintaining a steady, fairly easy 8:00 – 7:30 for the six miles.

Twenty 400s on tap for tomorrow, and it feels foreboding. None of the usual “sets of five”, just a straight 20 with 1 minute rest. We’ll see. We. Will. See.

T-ball is finally over, thank goodness, as the Mets lost in the tournament. What? A tournament for t-ball? Yes, and it was disgusting, especially the last game. On nearly every play, what happens is this: a kid hits the ball to second base lets say, the second basemen throws wildly to first, the first basemen runs after it then overthrows second, the outfielders collide and wrestle over the ball. Since the kids can’t really field or throw, the unscrupulous coaches take advantage and just have the hitters run until the ball stops rolling somehwere in the infield. There’s lots of screaming and yelling (by the coaches) during the play and high-fiving after “home runs” and “triples”.

My son made a couple of base-running mistakes and got tagged out on the bases twice. Luckily, he didn’t really care, and he shouldn’t, he barely even knows the rules. But I saw one coach make his own kid cry after an error. There was almost no coaching, no learning and not enough fun.