I'm gonna run later but decided to put a few thoughts down this morning.
First of all, I've been sleep deprived for some time. Don't think it's because of running; I get stiff lying in one position whether I run or not, and have to wake up and reposition, then there's the old BPH rearing its ugly head (if you're not familiar with BPH, and you're a male, count yourself lucky, but know it's coming your way). And I do need more sleep than a lot of 48-year-olds might, always have.
Anyway, yesterday I kind of hit the wall. Took a nap from 9:30 to 11:00 after my run, then took another one from 4:30 to 6, then went to bed at 10:30 and slept until 8:30 a.m. That means I slept for 13 of the 23 hours. When I stay in bed that long, I wake up with a headache. Don't know why, but I do. And I realized it had been a LONG time since I woke up with a too-much-sleep headache; the headache I had last Sunday morning wasn't one of those. But now that I caught up on my snoozing, I do feel better.
I think I will take advantage of the week off before Memphis to make sure I'm well rested. That may be a key for me. Instead of getting up at 7 to get ready for work, get up and do a morning run, maybe take an afternoon nap, then I can go to bed earlier instead of having to do an evening run. My schedule would be much different if there weren't the little issue of having to work for a living...
I think if I were among those who didn't have to punch a timeclock five days a week, I would actually be able to pursue BOTH of my obsessions -- running and golf. Run, hit balls, maybe play nine holes on a regular basis, an occasional 18, maybe go do some intervals in the evening. Right now, there's just not enough energy (or daylight) to run 50-70 mpw and spend any time on golf.
Also, I would like to incorporate more crosstraining if I had time, particularly weightlifting. If there's been something I thought I needed to do in this training cycle and didn't, that's it. Our little fitness center has been invaluable (free access to the TM seven days a week), but it doesn't have much in the way of lower body stuff. I do a little upper body work, which helps some. I would have killed for access to a leg press machine and a hip extension machine -- but I wouldn't pay for it or drive several miles to get it, I guess. I think that's what I have needed to incorporate in my training, to get my glutes and hamstrings as strong as my heart and lungs are. I very rarely get out of breath, except when I'm running intervals, but my legs tend to give out. If I had a bicycle (or a place to keep one), all the hills around here would probably have helped me develop those muscle groups as well.
We keep talking about getting a family membership to a city-owned fitness center in Little Rock which has weights, an indoor pool, an indoor jogging track and a basketball court. Perhaps we'll finally pull the trigger on that and I can include that in my training program for Boston....
Finally, the run. Started off really slowly, legs felt good, so I cranked it up pretty good, got to MP with a mile to go, then with 0.5 to go, blasted it up to MP - 10%. I'm trying out a little mantra, sort of a phrase to mentally crack the whip over my head, and at least for a 1600-meter surge, it worked pretty well. Seven miles in 64:11 overall.
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