Weather - 38 degrees, sunny, wind. Easy day today, but this
was the first easy day in a while where I worked the session hard. Too
hard? I don't know, but now that spring is on the way I will have to be
careful not to fall into last years bad habit of "if I am going for a
run, it is going to be a hard run". I took few easy days last year, and
paid the price by breaking down in early August. Ran 9.5 miles
total, When I reached the golf course I ran 10 x 150 yard
accelerations, each followed by a 150 yard jogging recovery. I recall
doing the same workout in November (the beauty of keeping a journal,
the Nov. 14th entry describes my struggles with the same workout as
todays - 150 yard strides, with a jogging recovery, the 3 miles run
after were hell, I could not recover and was breathing heavily and
my legs were wobbly). Today however, I ran the accelerations smoothly,
concentrating on increasing my leg turnover, trying to get my feet off
the ground as quickly as possible, almost all-out sprinting, yet I
tried to make it feel as if I was going to run that quick pace for a
long time. The accelerations were into a stiff wind, but it did not
bother me, and I had no trouble recovering. When I finished I returned
to my normal easy running pace without a problem and was able to run 5
more miles. So my fitness is much better today than
4 months ago. I also threw in 3 sets of knee-ups during the run, and
also some bounding up hills. My overall pace seemed quicker, which
made me think that maybe I was not going easy enough. I have reached
a point in my training, however, where I need to begin taking small
risks, pushing harder and closer to the edge. That is where the
excitement is, and also the danger - when running stretches the limits
of body and will. #116 z.m. - #30
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