My friend says “periods are comedy gold”.
So it’s pretty obvious now that I definitely “peaked” about a month ago. In fact, I think I can pinpoint the day and the workout of my apex. Ever since then I’ve been slower, weaker, taken longer to recover, etc. Couple that with running more miles lately, and this week has been rough. Coming off 52 miles last week and a tough long run up Mt. Bonnell last Saturday (in which I developed a nasty blister) I should have expected a drop off this week, but I was still discouraged by how steep the fall was.
Monday turned out for the firecracker and we ran the Stratford loop. It’s got a couple of Wilke-esque hills right off the bat and then you have a long way to hammer home if you’re running the 8-miles. I felt strong up the hills, slow down them and mediocre on the long straights of LAB and the trail. 57 minutes for the 8 miles, last two in 6.27 each. Kind of a dreambreaker since that is my fantasy MGP.
Tuesday turned in 2K repeats at zilker. Compare this session with last month. Sigh. I’m about where I was a year ago. Double sigh.
Well crap, I just lost the rest of the post.
Quick rewrite: saw Gilbert on Wednesday and he tried to pump me up about the crappy 2Ks, Thursday I struggled through a 600/400/200×4 track workout that left me completely depleted, Friday I labored and paced through the Swedish Fish XC 5K(?) in about 19:20 but had fun and got some pizza, this morning I brutalized myself through a demoralizing 93 minute Gallowalk followed by an excruciating massage at Austin Deep, I recently marvelled at the results from a triathlon I did 2 years and 40 pounds ago (look at that 5K time!), I plan on having a new running plan, and I promise not to complain so much in future posts.
i don’t think you can compare this year’s dv with last year’s model. don’t you remember our long runs last summer? we’d slog through 8 miles, pretty content to run a few at a sub-8 minute pace. now your long runs are twice as long and *significantly* faster. one bad day of 2k’s (and one has to ask: is there such thing as a good day of 2k’s?) doesn’t negate the progress that you’ve made.
Ditto to Andre.
Last year you were training for triathlons all summer, so you had breaks from running. Maybe you can throw in some more pool swims or bike rides to lift your spirits.
you might consider a recovery week
http://www.runningtimesmagazine.com/rt/articles/?c=136&id=6011
you’ve gotta give your body a break….
Rich, I really like that article and do think it’s what dv needs.
a week? DV – you know where I line up on this one.