My workouts

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The rhythm of life

Runners are quite familiar with rhythms, from the rhythm of thousands of strides, to the rhythm of breathing. Thursday I got to hear our baby’s heartbeat for the first time. It is pretty miraculous to hear a few beats or strides from an unborn child on the warm-up track for life. It makes my strides… my running… seem so irrelevant. Eighteen years from now I can imagine myself trying to convince my son or daughter that their old man used to run marathons. I’m sure it will seem like another fish story to them.

Popcorn is good stuff… but I learned this week that it isn’t really good fuel for running. Tuesday I did my 8 miler during dinner time, and when I got back I didn’t feel like cooking anything… so I had a bag of popcorn for dinner. Then Wednesday morning I got up and headed into the cold for another run. By the time I arrived back home my tank was empty. Mental note… choose a better fuel than popcorn in the future.

After my Thursday 8 miler I was pretty tired. I was tired, my legs were tired, and I was running sloooooow. Even Saturday for my recovery run I was still tired. I felt a little better Sunday… until… well… I got sick. Nothing like needing a bathroom in the middle of a 2 hour run. Argh. I was in so much discomfort that I hardly had time to enjoy the snow flurries. I did manage to finish the run however… mainly because it would be hazardous to my health to cut across the airport. The biggest benefit to running faster… is that your long runs end sooner. Despite the discomfort, I wasn’t slacking at the end of that run.

Runs for the week: 8 (with 4 fast)-4-8-4-13. Next week I am scheduled to hit 40 miles… which I have only done a few times before… and with much longer long runs. I hope I have the mental toughness to grind this thing out. I think my body can keep up. I have decided to try make the mileage no matter what… and just run slower if my legs are dead. Time will tell.

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