Friday, October 25, 2013

Third 50 in three weeks

Man, it's a struggle. Every single day. Running is not the joy it once was, and every time I start a fresh running season I'm reminded how quickly my body's betrayal has advanced. My comfort zone used to be in the mid-6 range. Now I can run comfortably in the mid-7's. True, I'm not really in shape yet, but man, it's sure a lot harder to run harder than I'm used to.

Take the segments, for instance. The last couple of days I've run, I've come up on known segments and pushed. Let me correct myself: I pushed, but when I saw how far off I've been, I've flat-out gone for it. And still I am woefully short.

It's not like the times are fast - they aren't. I'm slow. Very slow, and getting slower all the time.

This is going to take some focused work to address, and a lot depends on how much training my body will absorb before breaking down... but I'd like to be able to run in the lower 6's in the 5-mile segment of Terre Haute next year. I'll accept 6:15 as close enough. That's probably a pipe dream, but it's a target, and that will help me train.

I'm running 20 on Sunday, and that I hope will confirm what I already believe - that I can run a BQ at Huntsville. 8:02 pace is all it will take. If I can discipline myself to hold 7:50 for the first 15-20 miles, I should be golden. That would be 4 minutes up, and after that it would take a total disaster to undo the work. But... I know a thing or two about disasters...

No running tomorrow. Going to Semi-State with my runner.

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