Cedar Hill Golf Course
Although the pain wasn’t instantaneous, thank God for small miracles, the indifference and unresponsiveness in my legs was immediate.
I haven’t run any workouts at Cedar Hill Golf Course (CHGC) in years, and reacquainting myself with a session of tempo miles might not have been the best of ideas. The plan was simple, 4x mile with 1’ recovery. Having not raced in months I’m unsure of my current fitness but aimed (perhaps ambitiously) to hit somewhere between 6:00 – 6:05 mile/pace. Even if you take into account the rolling terrain and the bark mulch footing, I was hopelessly disappointed.
I met Hicham at the start of the upper loop and after a light warm-up we “eased” into the first mile. It was about the 1200m mark that I started to second-guess myself on competing in my first cross country season later this fall. What have I gotten myself into?
6:27, 6:16, 6:29 & 6:23
Hicham was a trooper and completed a fifth mile whereas I, after licking my wounds, decided to limp back home in anticipation of a cold beer.
Training:
Wednesday: easy 38:15
Thursday: 1:19:35 w/ 4x mile tempo (1’)
Friday: day off (unscheduled)
6 comments:
I am also about to do my first full cross season in ages this fall. I am very excited, but have to wait for the foot. Are you coming over for any? BC's?
You seemed to jump into the hard stuff with little warning. Maybe your body wasn't prepared for the instructions from the 'brain'?
I'm more than familiar with disappointingly slow mile repeats, but leaving only one minute between each is brutal!
Don't overdo things, mate, and ease into it a little bit more, like Mike said.
You planned on four and you completed four. No doubt the dissappointmet with the times will dissolve with more trips out to CHGC.
Yeah, I agree with Thomas, the 1' intervals are brutal.
'Limped back home' for a cold beer? As soon as I was out of Hicham's sight I would have broken out into a full on sprint!
Hey Michael,
Looking over last few weeks of training, there are two things that sticks out:
i) Poor Long Runs - Range from 2:30-2:45 (~25km). 40 min into the run has mild cramps. Could be the camelpack I am using that is dirty(?). I am more concern is my lack of energy to keep going. Legs are tired an hour and 45 into the run.
However, the day after the long run, I was able to run a good pace of 5 min/k for 15-18 km. I figure i need to rest properly to get some good long runs in me.
ii) Too fast tempo runs - base on the McMillan Running Calculator, I should be doing my tempo runs at 4:45 to 4:57. My tempos have been close to 4 min/km. Definitely too hard and beating myself. For these runs, I've been doing 20' WU, two 10' tempo with 5' break and 20' CD.
Brad, yes, BC's. Are you racing Sr. Men? I'm thinking of running as a... Master:(
Mike, I don't think my body "was" prepared for what my brain wanted. My w/o this evening was much better though, perhaps my best hill w/o in 2-3 years.
Thomas, yeah, they hurt. The reason for the 1' recovery was b/c they were "supposed" to be tempo. It's a fun w/o when you're on. As it turned out they were more than tempo effort at less than tempo pace. Yuck!
Marc. I crawled home tonight to enjoy a cold beer after the w/o. It was fantastic (the w/o and the beer).
Cliff, 2h30+ is long; it's not surprising yur legs are getting tired. I don't think it would be the hydration equip. Perhaps start slower and build into the run, try starting really slow (find a slow friend to keep you company for the first hour). Wow, those tempo runs are fast. How many days between a tempo session and a long run? You don't want to kill yourself. Good luck over the next few weeks.
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