Sunday, October 10, 2010

Goin' Incognito

Just a short little post this week. Here's what you need to know:

1) I have a chest cold at best case scenario, so I didn't race yesterday. I won't be able to get to a doctor until Tuesday. Obviously, I'm upset that I didn't get to race, but sometimes, even when you get your sleep, eat your vegetables, take your vitamins, say your prayers, and give to charity, you can still get sick. Not much I can do about that. The team ran great without me, I hope to rejoin my guys as soon as possible.

2) I'll be taking a hiatus from posting until after the America East meet. Don't forget to check back on Halloween!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Hoist On His Own Porktard

Hello, intertubes. This week was a study in the vagaries of New England weather. We started the week with more or less temperate, late-summer/early-fall weather, transitioned into a weird perpetual near-rain humid agony, and ended up with crisp, cool, dry weather perfect for a good hard long run. My week tended to follow the weather patterns: it started fine, got absolutely terrible for a while, then picked up at the very end to leave me more or less ready for another week of school.

El logo:

Monday 9/27- 3:30pm- 11mi on the quicker side of easy, 70:20, mostly with Matt and Peter around Jamaica Pond twice and an add-on down Ashford St. Felt good!

Tuesday 9/28- Woke up ragged with a sore throat; figured my first day off in 5 weeks wouldn't cripple me too bad.

Wednesday 9/29- 3pm- 4.5 solo, 4mi easy with the team, mile on the track with Peter and Rich including a 100m stride once a lap, jog home, good for 10+. I started a half-hour early today to make time for work before dinner. I got Peter a job, so I got to train him up.

Thursday 9/30- AM- Microeconomics midterm! Turns out I got an 81.5 on the exam, which is .5 higher than the median. I had really hoped to crush this exam, but totally sissied out of studying for it after my unscheduled shift at work the night before. Excuses, excuses. PM- 3mi up, 6x20' strides with 40' jog, 7.5k tempo around the BC Res, 24:52 (5:20/mile). I finally did a tempo run right. I went out just a tad slow, then ran strong the rest of the way, as opposed to going out around 5:05 pace and hanging on. My average pace was slower than last time, but I accomplished a lot more today. Splits- 8:23, 16:41 (8:18) 24:52 (8:11). It was also about 80deg with a dew point of 68-70 (ew, right?) so I was very pleased. 6 more strides and a cooldown for 12.

Friday 10/1- PM- 11mi easy with Ken, James, and Terence. It stayed 80 deg with a similar dew point through the night (which means I did not sleep for more than two or three hours) but when the storm opened up around 2pm, things cooled off and cooled off fast. It was only about 68 and rainy for the run, which was perfect. Also, I cooked up some pork chops for dinner. Though delicious at the time, this proved a poor decision around 3am, when I awoke to be violently ill in all ways it was possible to be violently ill. It was around 7am, empty and still cramping, that I was able to sleep until about 9:30am.

Saturday 10/2- I didn't manage to keep any fluids or solid food down for the day, so I wasn't expecting much for a run. I was shocked at just how bad I felt running 4mi at probably close to 9min pace. I had to stop a couple times on the way back. Fortunately, the run seemed to flush the rest of whatever poison I had fed myself out. After another small nap and hot shower, I was able to keep down water and even managed some dry toast before bed.

Sunday- 10/3 9:30AM- Bruce drove us out to the Minuteman trail in Lexington for a longer fartlek. We did a 21min fast warmup, then 3-6-3-2-4-2-1-2-1 minutes hard with 3min steady between each bout. We covered right about 12mi in 69 minutes, then jogged 9min for a cooldown at called it a very conservative 13. I was pleased to feel ok. My appetite still isn't quite back to normal, but I've gotten some food down today and what feels like gallons of fluid. Now is not the time to push things and get sick.

Tot- 61, plus pushups/core work most days (except Saturday for sure and maybe Thursday), in 6 runs, including a 4mi day. Not a bad week of training considering the circumstances involved. New England Championships 6 days from today!