GOOD AS IT GETS

I had a nice 8 mile run on the treadmill last night and was ready to proclaim, “No harm, no foul” regarding my Achilles. This morning I was wide awake at 4:30, so I decided to get up and get in a longer run. The mid-week, medium-long run is one things that’s fallen by the wayside during the cold months. Today was the perfect opportunity to reintroduce it. Unfortunately, just like Tuesday, my right Achilles acted up about 4-5 miles into the run. At least I was wise enough not to have an out-and-back course planned. I ran on it for a couple more miles, getting in 7 for the day.

It seems weird because Achilles pain is usually there, or it’s not. I don’t remember it being something that would flare up after 40 minutes of running. Oh well, it’s happened on two of the last three runs, so I’ll have to monitor/treat it. It doesn’t seem swollen or tender to the touch, and doesn’t hurt walking.

Alright, enough about that. Looking through the results from Sunday had me doing my best Jack Nicholson imitation, “Is this as good as it gets?” I’d like to see a study that looks at how runners race times change over time. I’m wondering if people, in general, finish with similar time from year to year. Of course, you have to take into account things like how new they are to the sport, age, etc. For example, here are my results over the years from the same 8K;

2000 - 30:09 – 30 years old
2001 - 29:52 – 31 y.o.
2002 - 29:20 – 32 y.o.
2004 - 30:44 – 34 y.o.
2005 - 29:56 – 35 y.o.
2006 - 29:15 – 36 y.o.
2007 - 29:33 – 37 y.o.

Part of me is happy to not be slowing down during the last 8 years, but part of me thinks stuff like, “Where’s the breakthrough?” Then I think, “Given that I’m already behind last year, is it possible to have a good year?” Of course, I think I can, otherwise I just wasted the last 5 months of training. If I don’t have a good year, then maybe it’s time to throw caution to the wind and shake up my training. I mean, if the “same ole’ same ole’” is always going to lead to 29:33, I either need to 1) learn to be happy with those results or 2) figure out a way to improve them, even if it means increasing my chance of injury.

Again, enough about me. Chris Lundstrom has updated his journal. And believe it or not, some of the Mammoth Lakes, CA group has too; Ryan Hall, Sara Hall, and Deena Kastor.

Quote of the day;

“One of these days and it won't be long
Going down in the valley and sing my song
I will sing it loud and sing it strong
Let the echo decide if I was right or wrong”
- Bob Dylan, Silvio