Winning Back What I Lost

Late evening TM run at the IAC; warmup 10 mins, 4.75 mi @ 8:30, 10 mins cooldown.  Not feeling real great; I think I might finally be getting what my kids and wife have already had; sore throat and slight fever had me sweating like I was Jim Cramer on the Daily Show. 

TM hill workout: 2 miles warmup, then 4 miles w/ half mile intervals varying from 2% to 6%, and cooldown. Weight down to 176 lbs.

I felt like crap warmed over and up until the moment I actually exited the front door of my house, it was extremely doubtful that I would do any training today. I'm not trying to take any credit as being superhuman or anything but running has just sort of become something that I HAVE to do. It's like brushing my teeth or combing my hair- sure I can skip doing those things on a given day but it just wouldn't feel right.

Late evening run outside. I ran in a long sleeve technical shirt and shorts at 10pm. I was duped into overestimating how cold it got once the sun went down (mid 30's) b/c the temp rose into the 60's during the day. That said, I would have been OK if I would have just worn gloves- my hands were freezing.

Warmup, 6 mi @ 8:27 pace, cooldown.

More hill training this afternoon. Ran an out and back from the base of Shaw Mt Rd toward Table Rock (750 ft elev gain, 4.7% avg grade). Felt surprisingly good despite a sore throat. First mile or so was tough b/c I'm spraying my throat regularly w/ Zicam which dries it out. Felt like I had cotton balls in my mouth. Looked around for some gutter water to sip but there was none to be had.

I've gotten a lot better at downhill running. One would think that this would be easy but it really is a challenge. I'm learning to avoid slapping my heels on the pavement and instead landing more softly on the midsole area to avoid braking. Ran the uphill 3 miles in 9:40 avg pace (last mile was much slower) and the downhill 3 in 7:08 avg (1st downhill mile at 6:45 which is excellent for me). Most encouraging thing about the run today was that I didn't really have to exert too much.

I heard today that Aldape Summit is clear of snow and ice all the way to the top. I may have to hit it again on Saturday morning depending on how I feel.

Afternoon out and back run on the GB from Parkcenter Bridge past Warm Springs Golf Course. Today is the first day of Spring and it was probably the warmest day of the year thus far. Still bothered by sore throat and cough but I'm warming to the idea that its just my allergies. Lots of plants and trees coming to life this past week.

Started reading/listening to Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Outliers: The Story of Success.' My buddy (stat geek) and my brother have been raving about this book and I finally got around to it. Gladwell makes a rather compelling argument that successful people aren't defined simply by their inherent genius or talent, rather they're often the beneficiary of seemingly benign environmental factors which grant them certain advantages over their rivals. Thus far, the book has made me ashamed of being born on August 1, perhaps the most fortuitous b-day for any aspiring MLB player. Why? The youth baseball cut-off date in most of the US is July 31. I am Exhibit A for the case that enjoying a physical advantage over other players cannot supersede an utter lack of proficiency.

Avg pace= 8:15 mi.

I was planning on running to the Aldape Summit now that it is clear of snow.  The skies looked pretty ominous and the forecast was not encouraging so I settled for 12 easy/slow miles on the TM- which is about 5 miles more than I can usually stand.  Disappointed that I couldn't keep up the trend of increasing my weekly mileage.  It was a combination of things that prevented me from getting out enough.  Next week is spring break and I'll be at my parents place in Oregon starting Wednesday.  I'm gonna have to get creative if I hope to get the miles in that I need.