I wasn't going to blog this week, but a comment from my fellow ultimate frisbee warrior Brian has me fired up. (and a little homesick for seeing him send a 175g disc my way too) My blog audience may actually require two hands to count now. Whoo whoo, and that doesn't include the coolest helpmeet ever, who is a given. I'll give my week recap in reverse order, for a more dramatic effect.
Wednesdays Speed workout
After that dumb "all out" 5k debacle I tried a month ago, I've stayed away from these speed sessions for fear of being stupid and running them too fast for my capability. However, today I successfully completed 3 x 1 mile repeats at Parcul National. After a 1.2 mile jog to the park, I hit 7:00 minute miles for all three, taking 2 minute jogs in between to recover. I was pretty happy to have the energy to jog the 1.2 miles back home and therefore complete the entire workout without stopping to walk. These workouts give me some confidence that I can survive the half-marathon even if I start out to fast.
Unfortunately, the workout was spoiled by having to take an ICE COLD shower back at home. We had no hot water from Monday night until Thursday afternoon.
Monday's 5 miler - "the kid" goes down
After taking a full day to recover from Saturdays Jutton-record breaking long run, I was ready Monday for a moderate 5 mile. I tried to run most of this at my Half-Marathon goal race pace and see how I felt after 5 miles. I felt pretty good for this one, but I was starting to get tired towards the end.
After about 4.5 miles, I must have looked like easy prey to a middle-school-age roller blader. I was coming in to the home stretch on my final lap and he skated right up beside me. He give me that challenging look that is found in all boys of every nationality. The look says "Let's see what you got old man!". I gave him a quick smile and said in Romanian "HAI!" (come on!) . I picked up the pace and cruised ahead. He quickly caught up, smiling all the way - this cocky little guy. So I got up on my toes and went in to sprint mode. It took more effort for him to catch up this time, but he pulled even again. I was getting a little worried, but I knew I had 2 gears left to show him. I picked it up again, sprinting at about 80% now and surged ahead by several yards. This was too much for "the kid". He started to speed up, but then wiped out, landing flat on his back. Somehow, he was still smiling. At my age, smiling would be last thing I'd do if I wiped out at that speed!
I smiled too. I had at least one gear left that I didn't show him. All boys like a challenge - even me.
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2 comments:
You are THE MAN!!!! You really are fast for a white boy of average height.
Nice Steve. Try killing a kid! Goodness! I also like the writing for effect. That was nice! Just remember to do what you have been doing for your training during the half. You can do it!
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