I’m making a slight change of plans to my training. I was planning to increase my mileage yet again this week, however, now I’m going to make it a cutback week. “Life” got in the way yesterday. What I thought was going to be a quick ice cream social for my daughter’s week-long church camp turned into a concert/ice cream social. I’m sure my wife mentioned the concert part, but I have selective hearing. Anyway, we didn’t get home till 8 and it was 8:30 by the time the girls got to bed. So instead of running, I grabbed a beer and watched Landis’ epic stage win.
Although I have run the Nude Mile a couple of times, I’m not much of a streaker. Running 8,000 days in-a-row doesn’t mean anything to me unless it makes me faster. So I didn’t give a second thought to ending my current streak at 27 days. Also, I don’t believe the body knows or cares what a “week” is or whether your log book goes from Sunday to Saturday, Monday to Sunday, Wednesday to Tueday, etc. Therefore, this cutback “week” could be anywhere from 3-10 days – depending on how I feel.
Growing up, my town had an annual festival every July and it included a 10k and a 2-mile fun run. It’s a fairly small town, only about 9,000 people. Yet I remember there being a couple of hundred runners in each race. Heck, it seemed like every kid in town ran the 2 mile. Well I just checked the results from this year’s race; 39 people ran the 10k and 11 people ran the 2 mile. 11 freaking people!!! WTF!? And we wonder why American distance running has dropped off or why obesity is on the rise.
I was in a meeting the other day with our Chief Marketing Officer and he was talking about how he loves to shop. He even keeps folders for things like watches, clothes, each room in his house, etc. Then when he sees an ad or article he likes, he rips it out and puts it in a folder. All this time I’m thinking; “What a fruitcake?!” Later that evening it hit me. I do the exact same thing when it comes to running and fitness. I have folders with my favorite articles on training, nutrition, race results, etc. I guess I’m a fruitcake too, just with a different passion than our CMO.
Today’s quote of the day is more of a paraphrase of the day;
“I don’t care about that. I’ve said all along, I’m here to win the tour…If someone wants to win the tour, they’re going to have to earn it.” – Floyd Landis when asked what he thought of winning his first stage ever in the Tour de France
ya gotta love that Midwest humor...my hometown back there in WI was pop. 1,314.
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy talk a cutback week out of the blue? Maybe, I missed something in your blog, ohter than 27 days straight. Maybe you have other commitments.
Could we say, "fruitcake is what fruitcake does"?
Excellent quote by Landis. I think all the bloggers have Landis fever today....I know I do!!!
ReplyDeleteI agree about obesity in America. I play video games with my son and watch the tube but we also go out and ride bikes together.
A guy I work with is always in a new fad diet and just can't lose weight. I saw him eating a piece of cake yesterday and wanted to tell him "that's why"!!!
Mark, I wouldn't call it "out of the blue." After weeks of 0, 5, 32, 40, 51, 64 and 74, I was planning to cutback next week.
ReplyDeleteWith yesterday's "events" there was no way I would be able to get over 74 this week. So I'll get 60 instead and get in a little recovery.
Lance, I don't read a lot of biking blogs, but I can imagine they're going crazy over stage 17. Heck, if runners are posting about it, you know it was something special.
So are you saving the Nude Mile race report for it's own separate post?
ReplyDeletewhat a funny and well written post :)
ReplyDeleteand ditto Greg's comment!
Susan, I can imagine that Michael is going crazy. You'd better get some folders set up to help enhance your shopping.
ReplyDeleteMaybe there will be a Nude Mile post, but that was like 12 years ago. It's all a fog now.
"Nude Mile". Yes, do tell. Eau Claire's version of the "Undy 500" we had in Wellington?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, as a promoter of fruitcake consumption, what's wrong with your boss being one?
Well with such small racing participants...one has a better chance of coming in first, right? Sounds like my kind of racing!
ReplyDeleteSelective hearing has been the demise of a lot of good men.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the "streaking". I'm MORE interested with high monthly mileage streaks rather than daily runs without recovery. How those Year-long-streak-guys avoid injury will forever puzzle me.
For sure we are all fruitcakes :) Just about different things than those other fruitcakes!
ReplyDeleteEvan, I'm not sure what the Undy 500 is, but if it involves undies, then, no, it's not like the nude mile.
ReplyDeleteRR, I suppos if I wanted to win a race I should have entered the 2 mile race.
HR, I think those guys are able to do it because they're probably not doing speed work or races. They're not pushing their limits in terms of speed, just consistency.