Changing Priorities

As you know, I have been nursing a mild injury the past few weeks. This has forced me to rethink my sub-3 hour marathon goals. I just do not believe that it is possible to put forth that effort considering that I have not been able to run farther than 11.5 miles in the past month.

However, what has happened is that I have reduced my run volume in half and an unexpected thing has happened. I mean, it makes complete since but my body has absorbed all of those long, hard efforts and bounced back with speed. I have been running faster than ever this past month.

The Yasso’s are faster and the tempos are faster. There just have not been any long runs. I ran a 10 miler this past weekend at 8 seconds per mile faster than my half marathon PR time. This run was faster than my 12K PR (7.45 miles). And the last 2 miles were in the 6-teens (6:15, 6:16).

I won’t be getting a marathon PR but I am going to PR at the half marathon in NOLA.

Zombie Survival Committee

I’m taking another English class.  I thought I might post some short story type stuff on the weekends. 

The zombies have taken over the world.  The scientist have found a way to exterminate the zombies but it will also wipe out the entire human race as well.  If I want to be saved I have to try to convince the Zombie Survival Committee that I should be allowed to stay in the super top secret lab and then help rebuild society.

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To whom it may concern, Zombie Survival Committee

I am sure there are a lot of really smart people on your selection list. In fact, I bet some of these really smart people are so smart that they probably caused this zombie apocalypse in the first place. Now I am a pretty bright guy but certainly not bright enough to cause or fix a problem of this magnitude. And let’s get this straight, this is a problem of zombie biblical proportions.

So, your cure is to wipe the earth clean, scorched earth if you will. So after you hole up in this super top secret, undisclosed location and wash your hands of the whole damned place, what then?

Can you imagine the cleanup this is going to take? Six billion (plus or minus) rotting corpses, dead and undead. Who is going to clean that up? Those guys in the white lab coats that have to use two arms to pick up a grande cup of coffee? I don’t think so. I bet it would take them all day to dig a grave for just two or three of these human or once human beings. And can you imagine all of the bitching and moaning going on about how they were too smart or too important for this kind of manual labor.

That is where I come in. I’m smart enough to know what needs to be done but not too smart. I’m not going to be thinking I'm too good for cutting up bodies in little pieces and stacking them in nice little piles. In fact, I have already thought about some practical uses for these bags of bones. We could use them like sand bags and build some temporary shelters; zombie adobe buildings. What do you think of that?

And I can dig too. Once, before all the caca hit the fan I used to dig ditches around the house. You see, my house was built at the bottom of a hill and when it rained a river, well not a real river but a heck of a lot of water would flow right up next to the house. It would take days for this water to dissipate. I got the bright idea of building a French drain next to the house to expedite the flow. With just a shovel, a spade if you will, I sat about digging a 200-foot trench along and around the side of my house. I filled it with gravel and sunk some 8-inch pipe. It only took me a couple of weekends to dig this trench. You bet I was sore but I got the job done. I would be willing to bet that if you were creative in the stacking that you could have fit maybe fifty or sixty of those zombie and / or humans in that trench. And I dug this trench just to dig it. It was also my first time digging a trench. I am confident that I could dig better next time. In addition, I am sure that if I saw all of those piles and piles of bodies it would motivate me to dig even more. I bet, I could dig it even deeper and even longer.

I even have my shovel with me. What do you say?

Decision made.

Decisions, I hate decisions.

Completely unrelated, the moon last night

I have not run more than 6 miles continuous in the past couple of weeks. It has been frustrating not being able to venture far from home for fear of having to walk back.

I ran 5 miles on Saturday (of the 14 miles scheduled) and skipped the long run entirely on Sunday. On Monday I ran the indoor track for 6 miles and did a progress ladder – 7:15, 7:15, 7:05, 6:55, 6:05 and a cool down of 7:30. Only a few light irritations towards the end.

Tuesday I did 8 Yasso’s at 2:55ish (sub 6 minute pace for the half mile repeats). There was no pain at all and I while I can’t say they were easy I was able to complete them without difficulty. So, while I may not have the endurance for the marathon I still have the speed.

I have also been on the bike trainer a lot these past couple of weeks. Also, I do not have the bike endurance but my power numbers for short durations are as high as they have ever been.

So, what is my decision regarding the prioritization of the marathon or the half ironman? Well, I don’t think I can run a sub-3 marathon in 3 weeks. It would have been difficult regardless of injury. But I do believe I can still put up either a ‘good’ marathon or possibly a PR half marathon while focusing on the bike. There you have it, I will be continuing to run but I am going to add the bike back into the mix. The sub-3 marathon goal will have to wait for another race.

Matching bar tape

The other day I noticed that the bar tape on my road bike matches the color of my study (I don’t use a formal dinning room much).  I have written about bar tape a couple of times (here and here).

What color is your bar tape and why?

Decisions, decisions

I am a little hurt right now. That pains me to admit it. That ‘Worst Run Ever; is still haunting me. If you remember, I raced a 5 miler on a Saturday and then did a 22 miler that was supposed to be at 7:30 pace. The prior week I had nailed a 20 miler at 7:2x pace and felt strong at the end. I was firing on all cylinders.

Well, after that ‘Worst Run Ever’ where I felt a lot of pain in my left leg (ITB) I took a complete day off, but just one. I attempted to run an 8 mile tempt the next day. That run was going great until some pain started creeping back into the left leg. I ran 5 miles of the tempo at the correct pace, slowed dramatically and did a run / walk for the last 2.3 miles.

I was hurt. I was disappointed. I was frustrated. Generally, I am a bulletproof runner. I mean I do occasionally get hurt but it is not from training, it is from crashing on the bike or falling on a trail. I accept those cuts, scrapes, bruises and occasional fractures. Those are the price of doing business. But chronic and overtraining injuries, that does not happen to me.

Until now.

Friday I will make a decision whether to pursue the sub-3 marathon or switch gears and concentrate on my half ironman (10 weeks away). If I move to a bike concentration, I should be able to have a run at a PR (sub-5).