Motivated to Succeed

Food for thought: So last night at work I was leafing through a book I ordered from the 70s written by Ken Sparks and Gary Bjorklund. In it I happened upon a breakdown of training routines by some of the best runners of the 1960s and 70s. It was really interesting so see that of the elite American runners, most said weight training made up 0-5% of their training regime. This would make sense as we all know it pays in distance running to carry less weight. But something I really honed in on was their listing of the differences in training between LSD (long slow distance) and tempo (sustained running). I didn't buy the book yet so I only remember a couple figures off the top of my head, but the few staggering ones that jumped out at me were:

• Frank Shorter - 50 % LSD, 34% tempo
• Bill Rogers (Rodgers) - 2% LSD, 90% tempo

Maybe I only remembered these two since I'm reading Rodger's book Marathoning (c. 1980?) and I'm on a huge must read everything about distance running from the masters of the 70s and 80s kick, but I think it definintely hits on the point that some people have predominantly slow twitch muscles, and others fast-twitch, or a mixture of fast and slow. Rodgers has always claimed that he has a lot of slow-twitch, so it would make sense to do more tempo running, and Shorter as we all know was a master on the track as well, but lacked the natural gift for longer events (though he arguably trained rigorously to earn that gold medal!). I think something to take from Rodgers' wisdom inMarathoning is that we as runners know our bodies best and must adapt our training both to suit our strong points, but at the same time, to challenge our weaknesses. There is no way to improve, without testing our limits, and pushing through the fatigue, though not every workout, as that would be problematic. Reading advice from some of these great runners, most of who are still active in races today, kind of serves as a rejuicing for the ego. I know that so manhy of us are still battling our injuries, and I know I am far from 100%, but I think that reading about Rodgers winning the 3 most prestegious marathons in under 12 months and setting the AR for the marathon in 2:09:55, but yet being set back by injuries kind of supports my goals for this recovery. I'm trying to recover smartly and hopefully take a lot out of this down period so that I can develop a training plan that works fior me and can help me stay injury free in the future. For now I will bide my time, and be the running guru here, reading all the literature I can get my hands on, and of course blogging like there's no tomorrow.

Best of luck FRBloggers. Happy Monday! Run safe. And most importantly, run for you :)!

9:00 AM - Rainy day today. Went on the 'mill. Did a walking warm up, eased into a nice 2 mile jog in 21:25 good for 10:42 pace, and then cooled down with a walk. Felt pretty good, though legs are a little tight and sore from biking. I think tomorrow is a day off. Happy running bloggers!

Total Time: 40:20 Total Distance: 3.25 mi Average Pace: 12:24/ mile

Wow. It's hard to believe April has come and gone. Tomorrow is May. And I'm still nursing this injury. Blah. I got a slight twinge of pain going up stairs on Monday on the way to class, so I took yesterday off and today as well, though I'm going to be on my feet all night at work. Put the heel lift back in and I'm hoping that I can get in a short 2 mile jog on Thursday, maybe Friday. It is so frustrating, since my heart and mind are 110% committed, but my "Achilles heel" (pardon the pun ;) ) is just holding me back. Praying for a swift recovery. I really want to do well at St. George.

As I try to stay positive, a quote Marcus Aurelius made rings true:

"Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears." Now maybe I shouldn't reject it, but rather accept and embrace it. I think that I've done a lot to put myself headed in the right direction - that of recovery. I just need to accept that it is going to be a slow go for a while. Maybe by June I can be back to running 4 days a week with 5 or 6 miles? Who knows!

Happy Wednesday everyone. It's almost May, and halfway to the weekend! :) God bless all of our FRBloggers and their families. And everyone else nursing an injury, you're in my prayers. Oh, and if anyone needs protection from neighborhood dogs or hooligans, just call up the Howling Commandos 1-800-BICYCLE. Brent and I deliver. Hoo ha!

Um..... OW. That pretty much sums it up. Downright angry with myself right now. I've tried so hard and long for recovery, but it seems its back to square one.

PM - seran wrapped ice to my foot, seemed to help a bit. pushups/situps. It's just not fair. I just want to be able to call myself a runner again, rather than a guy who runs sometimes. This is too frustrating sometimes. I don't wish this junk on anyone.

 Friday : it hurt after three hours at work, so during my break I sat down and seran wrapped ice again to my foot for about 40-45 minutes. It was enough to get me through the rest of the shift at least, though I work 8-4 again tomorrow, so I don't know how that will go.