Pre-race thoughts

Tomorrow is the Healthy Kidney 10K.  It is going to be a logistical nightmare.  A morning race, soccer practice, lunch with college friends, lacrosse game, some work, then a cocktail party and a benefit dinner.  All balanced around a two year old with a nap thrown in there.  A delicate dance for sure, and I only hope it doesn't rain.  It is finally spring and nice out, and we are so close to summer.


Last week as I dropped my daughter off for lacrosse practice at our school, I saw the high school girls track team running 400s with the coach. They looked so strong and dedicated and I was very, very impressed.  Here they are running, training with an interval workout on a Saturday. Of course, for a school with 100 kids in a graduating class, the track team (and the girls track team in particular) is phenomenal.  Now I know why.  I once saw a high school football saying "Discipline. Dedication. Defense."  (I am going to write about it soon.) And that exemplified dedication to me.

For the race, I have no idea what pace to aim for.  Given the 7:02 pace 10K I ran in December (and 7:21 pace 15K from six weeks ago), but then accounting for the recent 5 week layoff and injury, I have no idea what my time goal is.  Earlier today I thought I would just aim for 7:45 miles and be happy.  And then I thought, no, I ran this race last year; I will compare myself to that.  I looked up my race report for that race, and found out I ran 7:33 miles.  Hmmmm.  That makes a 7:45/mile time goal look sort of wimpy.

I have now run three times this week -- all on a treadmill and all in my New Balance 905's.  I saw Outside Magazine's "Gear" Issue, and on the cover are my new New Balance Shoes.  Sweet, so I buy the magazine.  The write up for the 905s said it was made for "whippet thin" runners who are speedsters and don't need any padding. Of the many things I have been called in my life "whippet thin" is not one of them.  But, as a result of my injury induced shoe switch, I don't have any other shoes sufficiently broken in in which to run a road race.  I have ditched the Gel Kayanos for now, and have never run in my new Sauconys.    So, I will do my best whippet imitation tomorrow in my neon yellow shoes.

The workouts have gone smoothly for my feet.  I have a lingering issue involving my left big toe (the opposite foot of the maybe stress fracture), but that injury has been with me a long time.  It is discomfort and goes away as I run; I actually feel it more in the mornings than during a run. (Playing Google doctor, I suspect  the injury is an arthritic condition in the sesamoid bone and joints.  It doesn't really go away with rest, and the most painful position is in push up position or doing a plank. I have had it for years (as far back as first marathon training), and it just does not get better with rest or no running.  It is not debilitating and just "one of those things" we all deal with.)  Anyway, my right foot has been fine.  In particular, the top of my first metatarsal (the situs of the potential stress fracture) has felt no pain at all post run.  In other words, so far, so good.  Heart rates have been a little high, but nothing unexpected after a layoff.

So, all of this leads me to goal setting for tomorrow.  My final answer: 7:30 miles, a 60 age graded time and no foot pain.

UPDATE:  Yes, I tweaked my blog settings and layout.  Just got tired of looking at the old one and thought to celebrate Spring I would try something new.  I didn't put much thought into the new layout yet, just clicked some buttons and Presto -- a new look!  The Header picture (as poorly done as it is right now) is Billy Mills, whose story never ceases to inspire me.  This link is to a motivational speech he gave -- it is just great.

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day...

In my brief fleeting career in Texas high school sports, one of our coaches had a favorite saying to encourage patience or make us wait for something "Rome wasn't built in a day ladies..." He always misused the analogy to imply that we should wait for something rather than the idea that small incremental changes produce great results. And the tone and condescension dripped from his voice, and it always made me want to ask him if he even knew what that meant. So one day I asked about something trivial (I think it was when is the next water break), and he said that to me. Having just read a classic history book (I was always the bookish, nerdish, wannabe athlete who was tolerated to keep team GPA above 2.0), I retorted, yes that's correct, Coach, but it did burn down in six. Coach paused, cocked an eye, and laughed heartily. He said I am not even going to make you run for that smart mouth of yours...

Anyway, I have always remembered that saying "Rome wasn't built in a day..." and as a runner it really is true. One can't radically change form, fitness or condition in a day. Patience, practice, commitment and devotion over time produce change and results. And thankfully form, fitness and condition really won't collapse in a week. Thankfully.

I didn't end up running 17 miles on a treadmill. Rather, I ended up trekking across the country for an unexpected work trip where I haven't slept in the same city in nearly a week. I have literally been on an airplane every day since last Tuesday. Traveling like that makes running 17 miles darn near impossible, and I just didn't get it done.

There, I said it -- I skipped my long run this week. But I can rationalize it because I have had 4 weeks in a row of long runs, one at altitude. And anyways, I just couldn't get it done -- literally there were not enough hours in the day, and been at work or on a plane most of the nights. And I need to sleep, too.

I feel bad about it. Guilty even. But I know it probably won't make that much difference. I did manage two early morning runs (on treadmills!), one in Vegas even. But I didn't go long. I just have to get back on the wagon this week and act like last week was a rest week. Sometime life has a dangerous way of intruding on running and training, and hey, that is life.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and it won't collapse just because I skipped a long run and ran a total of 18 miles last week.