Monday, July 25, 2005

LEVEL OF COMPETITION

I was thinking about my 10 mile “race” some more, along with other races where I don’t go out as fast as I “should.” It’s very apparent that I end up going through the motions. Even if I pick up the pace in the second half, there’s no way to get back that intensity/focus that’s required when you’re trying your best. You know when you start a race and you settle in and you start seeing familiar faces and you think “okay, I’m where I should be” then you can focus in on the task at hand. There was none of that on Saturday. In other sports they call it “playing down to the level of competition.” Ever play team sports where you’re on a dominate team, yet you lose to a bunch of scrubs? I used to play a lot of basketball and it happens all the time. So the moral is, if you’re going to race, race, otherwise save your money.

Part of these feeling probably come from reading this 1979 vs today thread that Double pointed out to me. If you were a running in the late 70s to early 80s and remember names like Bill Rodgers, Patti Dillon, Bob Hodge, Tom Derderian, etc. you may find this thread interesting. The good news is it's 62 pages long. The bad news is it's 62 pages long.

Hey Carl, if you’re reading, a while ago you mentioned getting your hands on some Twin Cities running magazines. Check out this link if you’re still interested.

As for running today, I made it out for a moderate 8 mile run this morning. I beat the rain, just barely. It looks like there’s a cool front coming in just in time for tomorrow’s hard workout. Hopefully, that’ll help me run halfway decent – maybe even gain some confidence.

5 comments:

  1. Would love to race more, but agree about saving the cash. There's a 10 miler outside Madison this Saturday, but it just isn't worth it to a large extent. Instead I will get to the HS track and see what I can do for 16,000 meters. You really have to focus on these workouts and for that reason alone I believe they are critical.

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  2. Are you following a specific program or just applying what's worked in the past?

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  3. Thanks for the link to the Minny mags...

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  4. As much as I've been warned, I am to a large degree mirroring what Ron Erhardt did for his marathon success from 40-50 years old.

    M= 10 moderate
    T= 5-7 AM, 12 total/track PM
    usually 800s Last nite (2:47,47,44,43,39,39,42,38)
    W= 10 easy
    T= 8 easy
    F= OFF
    S= 13 total w/ race or 10 tempo
    S= 18-20 occasionally harder

    Ron actually ran 10 on the AM workout Tuesday and he also ran 3 week cycles long of 20 - 20 - 26.

    He was also big on losing weight during this time. What do you expect from a Division I wrestler?

    This week has been the first week I'm feeling better, but only at about 80% to program.

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  5. I''m familiar with this subject too

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