I was a bit upset about how I ran over the weekend until I looked at it in the bigger picture. That made me modify my last post so that it wasn't so grumpy. I'm a bit frustrated with my lower leg problems. I was hoping to have a base by now and start doing more than all these long jogs. Since I can't.....I decided I'd do a virtual workout. Virtual in that I'm reliving some I've done in the past.
When I was living in Georgia, before I went on a wander, I had my friend Chris Junker come down to live and train with me. Chris had just graduated college and was in his peak condition. While he was there we did a lot of fishing. We crept through the forests looking for wild boars and alligators...and we ran....a lot.
Throughout the winter, before he arrived, I'd cranked out some pretty good miles. I did between 60-80 miles a week. Towards the early spring I started to run two runs a week at tempo running the last 2 miles of them all out. I remember my goal on those last 2 miles was that I'd either puke or pass out at the finish.
When he got there in early summer (having just finished his senior track season) I had my body ready to handle the hard pounding of track sessions. Since we didn't have a track available, Chris and I would drive around the country roads in his car and mark the 1/4 miles off with spray paint. We also had a nice loop outside my house in a park across the street that we weren't exactly sure the distance, but 3 laps run full out was normally right at 4:55 to 5:10.
Chris had one of those big old radios in his car that were popular back then. Well....I suppose they still are. Anyways, he'd pull up into the park, pop the trunk and blast the music.
After about 5 weeks of progressively tougher workouts I thought I was ready for a time trial. I signed up for a small local road 5k. I swear I can sit here and recall almost the entire race. It went straight through town, down a slight gradual hill to the mile marker. Then across a major intersection, a slight left turn, down around the back parts of town. Then came back up that slight uphill to finish right where we started.
Chris decided not to run...and instead hopped on my aunts bicycle. He strapped his "boom box" to the handlebars and lined up right at the line with me. I don't know that they'd allow that sort of thing nowadays....but they seemed perfectly fine with it then. I did a 2 mile warm up. Some good jumps. A nice hit of my inhaler...and settled in to my pre-race mantra. Just after the starting gun chris turns on the boom box....
I ran the first downhill mile perfectly. I was afraid I was going too fast but I was feeling good at 4:47. As I went I was really controlling myself well. My plan was even steven 4:50 pace with a kick at the end to give me 14:59. I got to the turn around by the cemetery perfectly in 7:28 and started my trip back. About a minute after the turn around I slowly....gently eased into a faster gear. It seemed that day that I had more in the tank but I wanted to be cautious. As I got to the 2 mile mark my time was still perfect but I was really starting to tire. I had a negative thought for a second that a mile was a long, long way to go up the gradual hill....but I just pushed it away and faced my pain.
I noticed that Chris wasn't around anymore but I was really focused. I remember the gradual hill like it's right before my eyes. The patches on the left side of the road. The fire hydrant I had marked in my mind as to where the hill stopped. It's funny how you remember things. Just with about 400 meters to go I was running all out. I was glad I hadn't shifted too many gears after the 1/2 way turnaround...that hill was tough to maintain pace on. Then Chris came streaking in front of me screaming....he'd stopped to change tapes.
As I crossed the finish line I clicked my watch...14:59... I was pumped. This was back in the days when they ripped the strip off your number...then about an hour later they finally posted your results. I remember I couldn't wait to make sure I'd actually done it.
I just know I have that still in me. Just need to keep reminding myself about that when I get frustrated. If I can just get some miles in and get these lower leg issues to go away so that I can do some valuable training......then I'll get there.
Again, no sense trying to do any pace work until you build the miles, and you can't build the miles until you get the lower leg crap resolved. So, as I noted on your last post, lets get the lower leg and orthotics worked out first, and then begin to build toward making you have the greatest early masters career humanly possible.....we'll get you to those national senior games......
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