I'll get in a recovery run a little later. Just wanted to get a couple of things down this morning.
I'm really happy with my run yesterday. It would have been easy to say in the first 5K that my glutes hurt, it's cold, it's windy, let's shut it down and just get through this race with minimal discomfort. Instead, as Coach Hutchins would have said, I competed. I set my goal on passing people rather than running a certain pace, and lo and behold, by passing people I got a good enough pace for a 59-second PR.
Looking back 30-plus years, there were two things I did (or didn't do) that doomed my running career at the time. I didn't know how to train, and I didn't know how to compete. I went to track practice four or five days a week, but I didn't build a base for all those 440 reps. I should have figured out something from those early morning workouts in 10th grade, which allowed me to get better. But when Jimmy quit going, I quit going too, and my progress was halted. Maybe I would have figured it out later if I'd been able to resume running after the surgery. Or maybe not. I never quite understood that there was a price to pay for being good. I had some talent, I think, but I never gave myself a chance to excel.
Competing was another issue. My races were essentially time trials. I can only remember one time that I actually was focused on passing people -- that 880 in eighth grade where I stumbled trying to pass the kid on the final stretch. Why I didn't learn from that, I dunno. I remember that being exhilarating, actually competing and having a chance to win, but I never replicated that afternoon. Until now.
I'm not fast enough any more, if I ever was, to win races, or even win AG unless I luck into a really weak field (like the "5K"). I'm not gonna run a 5K in 18 minutes, or a 40:00 10K, or a 1:30 half, or a 3:10 marathon. But I can compete. I can pick out that guy ahead of me, and reel him in, and pass him. I can keep that woman behind me from passing me, or pass her back, as I did yesterday. And the other thing I can do is put in the work. The long runs, the tempos, the intervals, the hill sprints, the fartlek. That way, when I want to reel in the guy in the Think Teal t-shirt, I have the training base so that I can. When others are lagging up the Crystal Springs Trail, I can go by them. When the woman passes me on the downhill, I go back in front on the flat.
And now I have another little goal. Someone on the local running scene I want to beat. She doesn't know she's my target, but she is. She's 21 years younger than me and a lot faster, but I don't think she really knows how to train or to race. Her splits tell me she doesn't pace properly. If she did, I couldn't beat her. But just maybe I can keep working and beat her once before she figures it out. I figured out her splits from yesterday. After the 10K mark, she averaged 7:57 miles. I averaged 7:33, which is a negative split. But she'd built up too much lead in the first 6 miles for me to catch her.
OK, scratch that. I now know that I HAVE beaten her. I beat her at Memphis in 2008. Same thing. She was ahead of me for the first half and slowed down, while I maintained my pace better. She's gotten a lot faster, but her pacing is still bad. OK, I still want to beat her now that she's gotten faster.
One more thing: the new VDOT number is 45.39, according to the calculator at attackpoint.org. First time I've pulled it over 45. Which corresponds with 21:39 5K, 44:53 10K, and 3:26:46 marathon on their tables. McMillan correlates it to 3:29:51. Merv says 3:28:53. Runworks says 3:26:44. Runner's World says 3:27:27. Can't get runbayou to work today, for some reason. Now I have to work on getting the rest of my PRs into the 45s (or 46s).
On the road today: 7.01, low and slow. Originally planned 5, then 6, ended up doing 7. Legs felt pretty good considering. Could have gone further, but nah. If I do what I plan to do this week, I'll be up near 60 miles anyway. | 