Thursday, September 01, 2005

CHANGES IN PERSPECTIVE

As I mentioned yesterday, I have 2 races this weekend. I wanted to get in some faster work today, yet not leave me tired for the weekend. The solution? The fartlek workout I did last Sunday. This time I did it during the course of an 8 mile run. Two days after my Sunday fartlek, my legs felt good for the 800s, so hopefully they’ll feel good for Saturday’s race.

It’s funny how our perspective changes over time. Yesterday I mentioned my “whopping” 181 miles in August. Last night I was looking through my old logs from college. My best season of cross country came after running 184, 186 and 185 miles in June, July and August. Remember, that’s the key base-building stretch for college runners. Man, that’s only 42 mpw. Not that sub-17 and sub-35 are fast time (by college standards), but how the hell did I ever run that fast on 6 miles a day?

Doesn’t it seem reasonably to think if I double my base mileage, I should be able to run faster – even if it’s 10 years later? I suppose "all else" would have to remain constant for that to really be the case. I have about 25 seconds per mile to drop from my best performances last year. That’s not going to happen this year. Maybe next? I suppose that’s what keeps me going.

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