Saturday I made my best decision in a long time and decided to skip the Winter Carnival Half Marathon. I’ve probably run this race the last 5 years and always seem to run between 1:24-1:26. Instead I opted for a group run where I basically felt like crap for 15 miles. Had I run the race, I doubt I could have run 7-minute pace. While the overall results weren’t as fast as usual, there were about 20 guys in that 1:22–1:25 range, including The Rock, Evan, and Nathan. I doubt Evan and Nathan realized they were one second apart. Also, frequent commentor, Joseph, ran in the low 1:20s. Nice job guys. While I didn’t miss being there, I missed getting another coffee mug. Oh well…
I ended the week with only 45 miles on 4 runs, but I also included 4:30 of x-c skiing.
My last post I talked about not being a slave to my running log book and therefore being okay with running less as long as I mix in x-c skiing. That’s all fine and dandy as long as my runs don’t get to the point where they all suck. Saturday’s crappy run left me wondering 1) whether I was tired from the hills on Tuesday and marathon-paced workout on Thursday, 2) whether my aerobic base is suffering from cutting my mileage or 3) whether I just had an off day. I don’t know the answer, but it’s something to keep an eye on.
As I was getting dress to go skiing on Sunday morning, I reminded myself of what I’m really training for – Boston, which is only 12 weeks away. So, I threw on my running shoes and headed out for a nice 20 miler. I did another Boston simulator – running north on Pilot Knob for 70 minutes and then turned around for home. After 17 miles, I added the 3 biggest hills to the run.
Sunday was a beautiful day for running – perfect for being able to tell which runners haven’t been running outside during the winter. They’re the ones that are wearing facemasks when it’s 25 degrees out.
Alright, I’ll try to make this the last skiing quote of the day;
“A lot of elite runners in the state found skiing more enjoyable than trying to battle the winter elements.” – Bob Kempainen
I saw that I was just behind Evan. Actually, we ran near each other the entire 2nd half. About 1 mile from the finish, I noticed his shoelace was untied. I then had a quandry: Tell him, but mess up his run right before the finish and seem like I was just telling him to gain position .... OR.... don't tell him and risk him tripping and then I'd feel bad. I opted for not telling him, but instead saying a little prayer that he wouldn't trip. My moral compromise worked, he didn't trip.
ReplyDeleteAs an avid skiier and runner, my experience with mixing them has been that as long as I continue to do my key runs (speed work, hills, long runs), the skiing is a great replacement for recovery and easy runs.
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