Thursday, March 02, 2006

1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Well, it’s been a year since I started this blog. If you haven’t poked around my blog (other than reading my current posts) you’ll find a welcome post as well as some of my history under the “more about me” section off to the right. That’s were you’ll find stuff like how I started running, and what my PRs are, as well as 100 odd things about me – just in case you don’t “know” me well enough yet.

I mentioned that my next race will be an 8K on March 19th. Here’s my report from last year’s race. I thought a lot about this upcoming race during this morning’s workout. I ran 8 x 1 mile with 1 minute rest. During the first 5 miles I imagined that they were miles from the race and I thought about each of the affirmations I mentioned yesterday. On the last 3 reps, I worked on the last 3 affirmations again.

One thing I added to the “when I act ‘as if’ I get a lift” affirmation is the ‘as if’ part. Some books say to act as if you’re winning the race or leading the Olympics, etc. Sometimes I’ll act as if I’m out on a training run with Jenna and we’re cruising along. I’ve even acted as if I were a woman and battling for one of the top-5 or 10 spots overall, rather than being the 100th man. Anyway, this year I’m going to act as if I’m Mark. I don’t Mark personally, only from getting passed by him 3 TIMES last year in 3 separate races.

Mark starts out slow and picks up the pace as the race progresses. Last year he passed me during the 2nd half of this 8K and went on to beat me by 36 seconds. 6 weeks later he beat passed me around the halfway point of a 10K and ended up beating me by 52 seconds. A week later he passed me about 25k into a 30k race and beat me by 1:35. From there he went on to set a huge PR at Grandma’s with a 2:50:35 and then PR’d again at Twin Cities in 2:49:07. This year I plan on acting as if I’m Mark.

Back to my 8 x 1 mile repeats. They were a little slower than I would have liked; starting at 7:15 and working down to 6:45, but not bad. I felt a lot like Mike describes in his post today. The downside about feeling awesome on Tuesday’s hills and having a great workout is that it takes awhile to recover. I want every workout to feel that awesome, but I don’t want to be rested for every workout. With that said, I don’t put too much stock in my times for these workouts. I’m just trying to put in a harder effort and boost my fitness.

Today’s quote probably has little meaning to anyone other than me. One day a few years ago I was doing a tempo run through a residential area, probably running around 6:30 pace. A little boy, maybe 6-8 years old, was playing in his front yard as I ran by and he said this out loud. I still think about it often when I need a pick-me-up.
Quote of the day:
“He’s flying.”

8 comments:

  1. Happy Anniversary! Are you taking your blog out to dinner?

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  2. Happy Anniversary! So the traditional one year anniversary gift is paper...how does that work with the ethereal blog?

    Anyway, nice work on the repeats. I like to act like I am Meb or Deena - but reality soon sets in and the jig is up.

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  3. Hmm, if I had a laptop maybe I'd take my blog out to dinner. However, it'd be tough with a desktop.

    As for the paper gift, I just print out my blog and give it to my blog.

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  4. i love that quote!

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  5. Congrats on keeping this up for a year. Just read the "more about Zeke" section from your blog launch. Quite the background you have. I was born and raised in Michigan also in the Detroit 'burbs. Zeke was one one of my heros also in 1989 and 1990 for obvious reasons - but no so much these days with what's going on with him in NY.

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  6. Zeke:

    My intuition tells me there is something wrong with doing 8x1 mile at 6:45 pace for somebody that used to be able to run a 9:40 3 K. I understand this is all you can do now, otherwise you would have done them faster. However, I believe there is a better way to wake up your college speed.
    If I were you I would attempt intervals at a faster pace (no slower than 6:00) but make them as short as you need to be able to handle them. Then cut down the recovery and/or extend the length of the interval as you improve.
    My reasoning for the above is that the assumption that your nervous system and your brain have temporarily forgotten how to run fast, which is the reason you are struggling right now. A thorough shake-up should bring it back in order.

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  7. Congrats and many more! Love that quote, sounds like a good affirmation phrase to me. Looking forward to the race report. Good luck!

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  8. Ryan, man I used to love the NBA. Now I can't stand it. I play on x-box and the only team I control is the 80s all-stars.

    Sasha, that 9:40 3k was about 12 years ago. I'm not 24 years old any more. With that said, how would you incorporate those intervals into marathon training? My race is still 14 weeks away.

    Are you in the camp that likes to touch on "all the systems" all year long?

    Thanks Mike. My next race isn't till the 19th, so you'll have to wait awhile.

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