Exposed

I came across the following quote this evening, “Some people don't have the guts for distance racing, the polite term for them is sprinters,” it made me smile.

The last few days have been relatively busy, Ally enjoying the company of her friends and family at the baby shower and me enjoying the company of an office desk buried in financial statements (the fact that I wasn’t at the shower is pure coincidence).

It began as only a slight pang, nothing more than a curious wisp, the fragrance of an unseen tress that leaves you guessing. I first noticed it two weeks ago when perusing some race results. I was positioning myself in a race I didn’t run, measuring a hypothetical performance against actual outcomes. It started innocently enough, but before I’d turned off the computer a stream of deep-rooted dreams was playing in my mind… I want to race another marathon, hard.

With the Bazan Bay 5k World Championships this weekend I feel incredibly exposed and under prepared. It’s not for lack of running, I’ve done some, but with minimal volume my body is lacking endurance leaving my mind disconcerted.

On Friday, Hicham, Hugh, the Flying Dutchman, Jen and I met at Oak Bay track for closing session. Again, the workout was simple, 1600 at 3k pace, 1200 a couple seconds faster, 800 quicker still followed by 400.

With the Dutchman setting the pace, we fell in line and given the ubiquitous headwind on the front stretch, I was grateful for the company. Alas, with fleet footed friends I couldn’t escape the inevitable jury (distance, time, pace/400):

1600, 5:12, 1:18.0
1200, 3:52, 1:17.3
800, 2:29, 1:14.5
400, 1:02, 1:02.0

Training:
Thursday: easy 39:45
Friday: 1:15:04 with 1600, 1200, 800, 400 (3’)
Saturday: 1:00:52 easy
Sunday: easy 1:24:25