How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Weather - 48 degrees, clouds, rain.

Ran 4.5 miles to the Zendo, meditated for 2 hours, ran 3 miles back to town, stopped at Cardinal and did bike intervals for 37 minutes, then 5 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home. I felt stronger on the bike than in the previous 2 bike sessions, most of the intervals were at a wheel tension of 21-23, and I took shorter rests, from 45- 60 seconds.

Later in the day it warmed to 66 degrees, so I took a bike ride to Crystal Lake park and read some of George Sheehan's "Running and Being". Last night I finished reading Gordon Pirie's "Running Wild". I liked the way he approached his training and racing, his hero was Zatopek, so that should give an idea to his style of running. I felt great all day, the warm weather is beneficial to my fitness and well being.

Tomorrow I will head to the track (all of the snow melted today) and do some speed-type work, probably 6 x 100M strides, and then a few 200M and 400M intervals. I will make the session fairly short, I don't want to over-work because the 5k is this Saturday.

#107

z.m. - #21

Weather - 32 degrees, clouds, rain.

Went to the track at Urbana HS in the late morning. Did a 2 mile warm-up, then 5 x 100M strides. The track was windswept, and a light freezing rain was falling. I wore long underwear, sweats, 3 shirts, jacket, hat, and gloves, so I had about 2-3 pounds of extra weight to carry.  I felt good on the strides, legs were recovered from yesterdays bike intervals. After a 5 minute recovery from the strides I did 8 x 400M intervals run at 5k pace with a 400M recovery jog between intervals. The times were 90, 93, 93, 95, 95, 97, 93, 93. I was running a bit too fast, because I can't keep that pace up for a 5K, I probably should have been running around 100-105.

#108

z.m. - #22

Weather - 30 degrees, clouds, snowing.

Ran to the U of I quad with a map of the upcoming 5k in my pocket, I wanted to run around the course not so much to know where I am going, but to try to get the juices flowing.  I was in another whiteout snowstorm as I ran, and I wondered if I would be running the race in snow.

Afterward I stopped at cardinal and did 5 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home.

#109

z.m. - #23

Weather - 36 degrees, sunny. A lot of melting snow, so my 5 easy miles were sloppy and wet. I decided to skip the hill workout today because I did a track workout just 2 days ago, and the 5k race is in 3 days. Tomorrow 4 miles, Friday, 3 miles, and I should be feeling energetic by race day.

# 110

z.m. - #24

Weather - 25 degrees, clear. Decided to change up my schedule a bit, I ran 4 miles to the Zendo in the evening, meditated for 60 minutes, then ran 2 more miles back to town. I only wanted to run 4 miles today, but I did not feel like walking 4 miles to town in cold weather, so I ended up with 6 total miles today. The 2 extra miles probably won't make a difference for the race on Saturday. I plan on running only 3 miles tomorrow.

#111

z.m.- #25

Weather - 26 degrees, clouds, windy. Ran to the Urbana HS track and did 6 x 100M accelerations. The final two I let loose, it felt good kicking into the wind - legs strong and fresh, body poised and energetic. The gradual decline in mileage this week has allowed my body not only to recover, but to accumulate excess energy and vigor. Hopefully that will continue to build for tomorrow's race.

I think it interesting that I am looking forward with excitement to a small local 5K. It is most likely because I have not run a 5K in 7 months, and it will be enjoyable to run hard in a structured setting. My plan is to run comfortably hard the first 1.5 miles, and then to subject myself to discomfort during the second half - it is the 2nd half of races that I enjoy the most because I can see how far the spirit can push the body. If I have anything left I hope to charge the final 800 meters, although I know from experience that sometimes there is nothing left to give at that stage of a race, and maintaining the pace is all that can be achieved. I have no idea how to predict tomorrow's time. Because most of my winter training was at an easy pace of over 8 minutes per mile, I think it unlikely that I can run below 7 minutes per mile at this early stage of the season. The weather is going to be about 20 degrees and windy, so that adds to the difficulty, although after 16 weeks of running in nasty weather it should not bother me. A likely time estimate would be at 7:10-7:20 pace, which will put me in the 22:00 range. Maybe I can surprise myself and run 21:xx, but it would take an effort which I have not proven I can achieve.

#112

z.m. - #26

Weather - 13 degrees, sunny, windy.

Woke up at 6:00am to cold temperatures, but it did not bother or get me down, as I have trained in similar weather for the past 4 months. If anything, I would have a mental edge against people of similar level who did most of their training indoors on a treadmill. I decided to eat nothing for breakfast, which went against what I did last year. The reason I wanted to experiment was because on a few recent weekend runs I ran in the morning on an empty stomach and seemed to have good energy and strength.

I arrived at the race site at 7:00am, picked up my number, and headed out to run the full 5k course as a warm-up. The temperature was 13 degrees, but a stiff wind made it feel below zero. The course was a rectangle, 1.5 miles in length, and the wind blew into my face on the beginning length. I started slow, and built up speed gradually, during the last 1.5 miles I did 6-7 accelerations. I felt happy, no soreness, a lot of energy, and looking forward to going all out on a run. With 15 minutes to race time I went inside the registration building to stretch. I decided to wear a pair of black long underwear with shorts over them, 4 shirts, hat and gloves. This seems like a lot to wear, but I felt light because I normally train in 2 pair of long underwear with sweats, and a jacket. With 3 minutes to race time I set myself on the starting line, in the middle of the pack. I saw Ken Welle standing at the front of the group.

Ken and I had some fun and intense battles last spring and summer. We have an almost identical running pace, but I finish races with a faster sprint, which allowed me to win all of our head to head battles. I knew that was going to change today, because Ken continued to improve in the autumn (I did not run any competitive races after July), running a 19:01 5k in November. He also ran a 3:18 marathon in Columbus to qualify for Boston. He was very fit, obviously, with Boston only a month away. Our final battle of 2007 was a 5k in Fisher. I normally run my own pace when racing, but I decided to follow Ken’s pace the entire way. Ken always starts faster than I do, and I was hoping he could pace me to a PR. All went well, but I found that I did not have much energy during the final mile, and could only kick the final 400 meters, tying my PR of 19:22, and beating Ken by about 30 yards.

I positioned myself about 5 rows back from the front, wanting nothing to do with Ken today. I pegged him for about a 19:xx, and I was hoping for a 22:00. Nope, I didn’t even want to think about Ken.

Standing at the line, I heard the starting horn and was unprepared, as usually the race director has a few words to say, but suddenly everyone was moving forward. After 5 yards the group slowed and stopped – the horn had gone off accidentally. Relieved, I concentrated on the task at hand, set my iPod to Part III of Philip Glass’ “The Photographer”, and readied myself for 22 minutes of struggle.

Finally off, I found myself behind a wall of runners moving slower than I had anticipated, and had to swing out onto the snowy grass to pass. Now in the clear, I tried to find the correct pace. “The race is decided in the first minute” passed through my head, and I followed my breath, made sure I was comfortable, and settled into the race. I had a surfeit of energy, and the running felt easy, even though we were into the wind for the first 850 meters. I passed the half mile mark in 3:15, so I was holding a 6:30 pace, which made me reconsider my effort. It is hard to hold back during the initial leg of a race, everyone is racing like it is a 1500M event. Was I going too fast? I was into the wind at 6:30, well, I would soon find out. Rounding the first bend just after the1/2 mile mark I passed Audrey Ishii, one of the better master female runner’s in the area. She can run a 5K from 20-22, so I knew I was currently ahead of my projected pace. After the bend I turned with the wind and felt free and easy. I decided I was not going too fast, and now began to wonder if I was going too slow. “Hold back” I told myself, “and follow the plan”, which was to pick the pace up during the second loop. I was passing numerous runners, feeling good. I came upon a group of 3 at the 1 mile mark and tucked in (I forgot to check my mile split, but I am guessing it was 6:30 since I did not seem to falter). A woman was just in front of me, running well. I quickened the pace just a bit, and passed the group, but the woman did not want me to pass her, and she sped up so that I was just behind her. I felt this was the correct pace and so went directly behind her, if she did not want me to pass I was going to let her do the work of maintaining the pace for the both of us. I mentally relaxed at this point and just flowed with the running, enjoying the feel of pushing harder than on my training runs. As we made the final turn of the first loop, I prepared myself for the upcoming struggle. I still followed the woman, but when we made the turn to start the second loop, I willed myself to follow the plan – to push myself into discomfort. I quickened the pace and passed a few runners, including the woman. I could see her shadow at my feet, she did not want to let me go so easily. I was hoping she could stay with me, but within 100M the shadow disappeared, and so she must have let up. Going into the wind again, it did not seem so bad. I recalled all the days of cold and wind, rain and snow. The entire course was free of snow, and I had a firm footing with each step, which seemed a luxury, so I continued to push. I passed 2 miles in 13:15, so I ran the second mile in 6:45, which was 15 seconds slower than the first mile. I made the turn and was now with the wind. 1 mile to go, I pushed harder, a young woman was about 40 meters ahead, she was running strong, I caught her on the only uphill, and surged past. All was going to plan, the next thing that had to be done was to accelerate with 800 meters to go, which I did. When I made the final turn, all that remained was a 600 meter straightaway, directly into the wind. I picked up the legs, began to breathe faster, was trying my best to expend all remaining energy. With 200 meters remaining I felt the first sign of weakness, my breathing was too fast and not deep enough, and even though I felt I had 2 more gears to shift into, I could not find them, and had to settle for maintaining the pace. I crossed the line in 20:15, having run the final mile in 6:21.  

After the race I ran into Ken Welle, he finished in a solid time of 19:30. He said he had trained all winter and was ready for Boston. I told him I would see him at the Mountain Goat 15K in 2 weeks, and started home.

#113

z.m. - #27