Summer Training, Week 5

The lack of Jackalope ideas has saddened me :( Perhaps a very dry reposting of my week's training in the retardedly detailed style of Nate Jenkins will entice some charitable ideas from the, well. . . small handful of you who find this interesting enough to read with regularity. I promise it will be more exciting to read when I start racing (or start experimenting with psychedelic drugs, which, though unrelated to running, would at least be worth reading).

Monday- AM 3 easy, rolled out of bed and went running. I'm enjoying the extended break from doing anything but funds are running low. . . fortunately, Job 1 starts next week and Job 2 soon thereafter.
PM- 7 easy, hilly course. Was in the shower before I remembered I was going to do strides. Whoops.

Tuesday- AM- 5 hilly with Geoff and Owen in a downpour (34 min). House marathon all day after. I don't care formulaic the show is, Dr House is a G.
PM- 8 easy with Geoff (run) and Owen (bike). Just out and back on the R/R beds 54 min (27:40/26:20)

Wednesday- PM- 13 good, first 10 pretty hilly and sluggish (68 min) last 3 moderate, 17:15, barefoot on grass. Took about 8 miles to get going.

Thursday- 4 miles easy, R/R beds + core. For a guy willing to run 100 miles a week, I'm the biggest bitch about doing consistent corework and stuff. I'm trying to get better at it (and lose the small spare tire that no 4:08 miler should have). Weight is down to about 138- got about 8-10 lbs to go.
PM- 8 miles easy, ~53:30, 6x10 second steep hill sprints. I'm starting to love these hill sprints- my ailing left hip/hammy seem to have been healed by them!

Friday- AM- 10 miles easy, 69 min. 6xstrides after (3 slightly uphill grade, 3 slight downhill grade). Tried to run slow on purpose- long/steady on Saturday.

Saturday- AM- Probably should have delayed this run until Sunday. It was about 80 yesterday compared to 60 today- but whatever. 15 miles long and hard (go ahead, laugh) increasing intensity every 5 miles. First 5 (R/R beds) 32:27, 2nd 5 (R/R beds) 30:28, last 5 (hilly Town Loop) 29:41, 5:35 last mile. I've never tried to run steady for as far as 15 miles before- won't lie, it was really tough. I've only run over 15 miles a handful of times in my life; however, I'm confident that after a few months of this I'll be extremely fit. This is the kind of base-work I've been missing.

Sunday- AM- 4 easy (28:15). I expected to be wrecked after yesterday but actually I felt pretty good.
PM- 8 easy hilly course (56:21) + 4xstrides after. Again, felt pretty good.

The NCAAs were this weekend, if anybody was in a coma. Jeezum crow, was Rupp impressive or what? I thought the 1500 was boring- I expected Fernandez to have a little more trouble winning. Still, it's an exciting thing when an 18 year old freshman can win the NCAA 1500 title leading wire to wire and looking as smooth as he did. Still, though, I can't get over how far Rupp has come as a competitor in the last year. I mean, he was always fast- but now he just seems to have racing itself down. I hope his admittedly hectic racing schedule this year won't come back to bite him by the end of the summer. Hopefully after the World Champs he takes a well-earned vacation. I know Rupp is a goofy motherfucker- but he's a team player who's come a long way as an athlete this year. Some people like to whine about "unfair" it is that he has good coaching and does all the little extra things to help him recover, but hey- they're not 6-time NCAA champions, am I right?

Anyway, hope everyone's summer is going well. I'm kind of doing the Bizarro-High School Kid right now and counting down the days til school starts and I can move into my apartment and BUXC gets going. I'm not sure what to do with myself without racing twice a week!

-Craig