Training, Feb. 6 through Feb. 12

90 miles in 12 runs, and somehow reached this total despite only four days exceeding 10 miles.

These were impressively homogeneous miles, too. Only about three of them stood out for being unusually quick, and they weren't connected together.

On Friday I decided to "try" eight 220-yard (1/8-mile) whatevers (pickups? Sprints? Waddles?) on the two-mile road loop I've painted into furlong-long segments. I did these in an average of ~34.0 (33, 33, 36, 34, 33, 33, 36, 33) and took a 220-yard stumbling jog in between at a pace most mollusks would scoff at. It was windy, but this was actually welcome because it was also close to 80 degrees. I also learned that this loop, which I plan to use for longer reps and tempo runs once someone hypnotizes me into having some resolve, rolls a little more than I realized. The wind and elevation changes are reflected nicely in my 220-yard times, as my effort was more consistent than it appears at a glance. On a track this same workout might have been 8 x 200m in an average 33-low, which is fine with me.

Doing repeat 200s, at least at my age and after a long hiatus from such nonsense, is like a committed booze-hound doing shots of whiskey. Two to four of them, and you might be feeling it the next day but the aftereffects are nothing serious. Five to eight, and, while you're not going to go about the following morning in your normal fashion, you can at least manage a reasonable impersonation of your normal self. Nine to twelve, or Christ forbid more than that, and it's a guarantee you'll be shambling around at 7:30 a.m. in a sea of pain and remorse -- assuming you can even move at all -- and croaking "Never again" (and possibly even believing this yourself).

This afternoon, I worked the same mile pick-up into the middle of my run that I did two Sundays ago, aiming for something I could hold for at least two miles and preferably three at this altitude. This time, I ran it in 5:36 (87, 85, 83, 81), about nine seconds faster at the same effort. Just as it did a fortnight ago, this mile drops about 25' in the second quarter and gains it all back in the last one, meaning that only my first couple of splits make any sense.

So did I do this week what I promised myself I would do last week? (Promises I make to anyone reading this blog don't count.) I suppose I did, on the merits of Friday's effort alone. I will defer discussion of strength work and other bullshit to a time when it seems more advantageous to me to bring up such things.

This week, despite now feeling like I can do an 8/8 double on any given day with ease, I'm going to rein myself back to about 70 miles and do a bona fide sustained hard run in the middle of the week. I'm anticipating being accepting of the result if not thrilled by it.