The will to win

I did a really nice, easy 6.5 miles today. I was scheduled for 6 miles but the morning was so nice and I felt so good I just kept running. I figure it's a confidence run for my 10k in 2 weeks. I even managed a negative split by keeping the pace on the slow side for the first 3 miles then picking up the pace just a bit for the finish. It's all good...

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare". I don't remember where I saw that quote but it's one of my favorites. I think about it when I consider blowing off a run. Elite athletes don't blow off runs; they train daily and hard. I'm not an elite athlete and I don't mean to compare myself to them. But if I want to race and do my best, as slow as my best is by most standards, then I can't blow off the training. I learned that lesson the hard way at my 1/2 marathon. I know I was undertrained and I suffered for it.

I know I'm not going to win races. But I can improve my performance. I do have goals in mind-a sub 1 hour 10k would be nice; and a 25 minute 5k. I would like to complete a marathon-no time goal, just finishing would be nice. Wishing for it won't get me there. Training will.

Casper

Today is crosstraining day. 1/2 hour on the elliptical, 1/2 hour on the treadmill at a fast walk and high elevation. It gets my heart rate up and rests my legs, and seems to be a pretty good workout. I just don't know when I'll get to it.

One of the oldest cars residing in my garage is Casper, the 53 MG TD. We bought the car 30+ years ago just before Hubby and I got married and it was my daily driver. For those non gearhead readers, an MG TD is not the most practical mode of transportation. It's a roadster and thus has no windows; there are funky window screen things that take forever to put up so no one ever uses them. And the convertible top is equally difficult and impractical, plus the rear window on Casper's top was ancient plastic that you couldn't see out of anyway so I cut it out.

Casper was wonderful in the summer months, even at 5 am when I was driving to work. Blasting down the highway under the stars, the scent of strawberries from the fields-magic. Winter, however was challenging. The floorboards are wood and not even remotely watertight. If I drove through town and hit a deep puddle, the interior of the car filled with steam from the hot exhaust. And since I drove with no windows and the rear window removed, I got wet when it rained.

Every morning on my drive to work I saw a runner at just about the same spot. Rain or shine, summer, winter, every cold, dark morning, there he was, running along the road. We started waving to each other. I used to think, sheesh, what a moron, out running at this hour. In the cold and rain. I realized that what he was probably thinking as he saw me drive by in my completely impractical, cold, non watertight sports car- sheesh, what a moron, driving a car like that. In the cold and rain.

I think about him sometimes now when I'm out running, early in the morning, in the cold and rain.

Six miles-pb!

I did a fantastic 6 miler this morning. I came THIS CLOSE to breaking the one hour barrier. My time was-are you ready for this: 1:00:47! The running gods smiled upon me today and my running mojo was through the roof! That's the fastest I've ever run 6 miles, and that, my friends, is a personal best. It's days like this that make me love this sport. It makes all those mornings of slogging away at the same old pace, of coming home with sore hips and black toenails and soaked in sweat worthwhile.

Race training, phase one

I'm sending the money to enter my next race today. So this means I will be entering the first phase of preparation for a race-the "holy crap, what do I think I'm doing, this is way too hard for me, I know I'm going to fail miserably" phase. It should last about 3 days..

Trail run

I tried something completely different this morning. I'm considering a race later this month that involves trails and sand dunes. So I decided to run down to our local county park and run some of the trails there just to get a feel for something other than asphalt. And I just ran 3 miles that absolutely, completely kicked. my. butt. The first 1/2 mile or so was fine-some sand but mostly packed dirt; so far, so good. Then I hit the sand. Soft, uneven sand. I couldn't get a good rhythm going and with every step my feet just sank into the sand. And then I hit the hills. If you want a really hard workout, try running in sand-uphill. So of course, I walked a lot. It was still a good run. The park is very quiet in the morning, and I saw bunny rabbits, and quail, and even some deer, and it really is a pretty park. It's just so darned isolated.

Note to self-when you come back from a trail run, DO NOT take your shoes off in the bedroom. I couldn't believe how much sand I brought home in my shoes!

If I didn't have my obssessive fear of hockey mask wearing axe murderers, I would run there more often. And mountain lions. My fear of mountain lions keeps me off the park trails as well. And bats.

Just a run

I managed to get out the door at 6 am for a really nice 3 miler. No speed, no thinking about pace, just running. Maybe I need to do that more often. I was cruising the internet recently, checking out the gazillion or so running plans, and it occurred to me that while I could follow a complicated, in depth, scientific plan, maybe the best way to run is the easiest:
Run a lot; mostly slow, with just a little regular speed work.

There. That's my plan. Simple, to the point, easy to follow.

Warmer weather

I didn't manage to drag my lazy butt out of bed for a 6 am run; hit the road closer to 8 am and it was warmer today. I did finish my scheduled 9 mile run but I was pretty slow with an almost 12 min. pace. I figure it was still good considering the heat. I stashed a water bottle in the inlaw's mailbox, so every 3 miles I had a nice water break. I guess my beloved foggy mornings are gone at least until September.