Wednesday, October 05, 2005

SPOOKY RUN

Yesterday I mentioned it rained. I meant it RAINED!!! There were reports of up to 8” of rain in some parts of the Cities. After the rain passed through, the temperatures rose. By 6 AM it was 65 degrees and the dew point wasn’t much lower. When the temp and dew point are so close, it usually means fog and this morning was no different. So this morning’s run was pitch black, foggy, and damp with lightning in the distance and for about 10 minutes straight, police car and fire truck sirens. It was a little spooky.

I find that my attitude towards running ebbs and flows with the weather lately. It’s October 5th and I’m running at 6 AM in a tank top and I come back sopping wet. WTF? I managed 8 miles in 65 minutes, but the whole time I just wanted to turn around and call it a day. In fact I wanted to call it a season. Pull the plug. Take two weeks off before ramping back up. But I reminded myself; “This is Minnesota, tomorrow I’ll be bitching because it’s too cold.” Besides, I looked at a calendar for next year and did a little planning. Even if I race through October this year and then take 2 weeks off, that’ll still give 17 weeks of conditioning. Lydiard recommends at least 12 weeks, so I think I’ll be fine.

Speaking of Lydiard’s training plan, if you haven’t come across Mike’s Running with Lydiard blog, check it out. I like it because Mike’s fast, 30-something, with kids, training for a winter marathon (P.F. Chang’s in Phoenix) and, most importantly, he’s following Lydiard for the first time. He’s just finishing up his conditioning phase. Follow along and watch Lydiard training in action.

2 comments:

Mike said...

Zeke, if you need motivation, come to Tucson to run for a week. It's about 65 degrees in the morning with no humidity, and as each day passes it gets a little cooler. There are some (male) runners here who can get by almost year-round without a shirt (though I wish some wouldn't!) Sounds like a short break might be in order soon, and you will have time for a good, long build for next year. Thanks for the plug too! Look up Nobby, he really seems very kind.

Chad said...

Tucson sounds nice. What kind of racing season do you guys have down there? I've always lived in the midwest, so the season is usually March-October around here.