The dark place, the cold and the snow
It’s been an interesting training cycle. This is the first time in 4-5 years that I feel like I’m actually training. Not just putting in the miles, but training.
Going deep.
And it’s January in Massachusetts.
And it’s the final big mileage week for my race in February.
The paces and times and miles aren’t what they used to be but the effort and suffering is there.
The effort and the suffering comes as an epiphany. First of all I never thought I’d be in this place again. Not only did I think I’d lost the physical ability to do it, but I thought I had lost the will to go this deep.
I had a less than optimally timed illness event over the holidays. I swear I don’t know why we don’t all just lock ourselves up over the holidays. Logically, you could not program a more efficient way to propagate illness through the general population.
You’ve got the kids coming back from school in far-flung geographies. You’ve got extended families gathering together in close quarters. You’ve got bad weather and too much activity, so everyone is sleep deprived and wiped out already.
Then you sprinkle in an assortment of viruses and bacterium and voila! Everyone has something.
Of course I caught some virus and had to take a couple weeks out of the meat of my training for my race in February.
When I finally was able to put my head down and train, I only had a couple weeks of build time left before the race.
So we hit it hard. Last week I crested at around 45 total miles, but they were all hard miles. Big tempo runs and workouts on fatigued and aching legs. At the end of the week, I was wrecked. I could barely walk.
On top of that the polar vortex blessed us with snow and single digit temps. The snow made the rail trail unavailable for hard training runs. I had to do them on the roads. Let me give you a selection of entries from my training log.
Workout Description: Run 20 minutes in zone 2 (easy effort). Then run 30 minutes in zone 3 (medium effort). Then run 30 minutes in zone 4-5. (hard to very hard effort) Cool down 10 minutes in zones 1-2. This is not an easy run. Your effort to stay in zone 4-5 is about effort not pace so make the effort hard and steady.
Athlete Comments:
Proud of this effort. Was patient and focused on form and turnover and not overcommitting on effort too early – especially on the uphills. Conditions aren’t the best with a head wind on the way back. But stuck to it and finished.
Felt last night’s jumpy-squatty workout in my legs early, shortened up the stride and ran clean.
Left the dog at home. Had Grateful Dead New years ’76 on the buds.
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Workout Description: Tempo/Time: 1:30 (:20 Build, 1:10 Tempo)
Run the first 20 minutes in zone 2. Then run 1 hour at 5 seconds per mile faster than your 1/2 marathon or marathon goal pace. This should upper zone 3. Cool down 10 minutes by jogging easy. Stay relaxed and focus on being completely in sync from head to toe. Light fast feet.
Athlete Comments:
Was losing sleep over this all week! Tried to ease into it but I felt like I was a bit aggressive. Hurt like hell on the way back but I worked the form and rode it all the way. Legs were screaming with fatigue, especially on the ups. Knee is good. No sharp pain – just a lot of fatigue.
Today’s effort brought to you by the Grateful Dead, set one, 8/4/76 Roosevelt Stadium.
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Workout Description: Surge 2:30 – Warm up easy zone 2 for 10 minutes. Then surge every 15 minutes into zone 3 for 3 minutes. Continue this throughout the run until the last 15 minutes then finish at an upper zone 3 effort. This teaches the mind and body how to have a great finish.
Athlete Comments:
So – Yvonne was in Atlanta and changed her plans to come back this morning and kinda blew up my schedule for today. I got out when I got back – it was shorts weather before the storm hits tonight. 45 and sunny when I started. Legs were dead from the start, but I figured that’s the whole purpose. Went out on the roads, the rail trail is bad, didn’t bring the dog – too much salt down. Just did loops around my house – some good elevation and the 15m pickups kept falling on ups which my legs didn’t like. 15min doesn’t give you much recovery time – but I hit them all and got it done.
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Workout Description: Perform 10 repetitions of each of the following exercises:
push-ups,
sit-ups,
squats,
reverse lunge,
side lunge,
and plank hold.
This is one circuit. Perform a total of 10 nonstop circuits for a total of 100 repetitions per exercise (hold plank for 60 seconds).
Athlete Comments: Done – subbed light bench for pushups (broken shoulder) – Got through all the sets but my legs are wrecked. Kept waking me up last night with the ‘long run legs’. No worries. Part of the process.
Workout Description: 1:20 with 20 Minute finish
Go out for 1 hour steady zone 2. Then come back the last 20 minutes in zone in zone 3. Kick for 2 minutes at the end of the run
Athlete Comments:
Conditions poor. Legs fatigued. Just doing what I’m told at this point and trying to survive.
These two weeks of training took me right to the edge. I had to really focus to get through it. I had to leave the dog at home. Instead of podcasts or audio books I reverted to straight, uninterrupted music.
What does this mean? It means when the work gets really hard you need to focus and be present in the workout. Even when, especially when, the workout is long and painful. It’s like needing to hold your hand in the flame. It takes mental focus.
And I’m not out the other end yet. I still have a couple big runs to go, but you know what? My legs are starting to bounce back. These weeks have given me confidence that, regardless of my time or pace I can run this race with purpose and honor.
It’s taken the better part of three years for me to get to this point.
It feels good.