Getting back to the run...

Okay – it’s been two weeks since the big race. I am just about recovered – I still don’t have a top end but everything else seems to be firing. So, now it is time to stop flapping in the breeze and start to lay down the ground work for next season. First I need to solidify my goals. They seem to be run dominate right now which is a good thing – I would really like for my run to come around like my bike and swim (don’t get me wrong – I need the bike and swim to continue to improve but the run needs a kick start). I got literally chased down on a couple of runs this year in triathlons. I watched Mike and Robin pull away from me in the Heat Wave and if the Sunfish would have been a 2 mile run and not a 5k I would have had Robin.

So the big goals are a sub-19 minute 5K sometime early next year – the races that are easiest to PR are the ones on the Longleaf Trace in February and March (Run for Love and St Patrick’s Irish Italian Festival) – I think I was 19:19 and 19:09 respectively last year). Also the Mardi Gras Marathon is in, obviously, February. I checked the Run less Run Faster book out and damn the runs are challenging from week one.

I don’t remember exactly but the first set of intervals are mile repeats at just over 6:00 minutes per mile, the first tempo is around 2 miles at 12:30 and the first long run is 8:00 minute miles for 13 or 14 miles. Talk about jumping head first into the training plan. Last Friday I ran 4 miles for breakfast and 4 miles for lunch – all at between 7:30 and 8:00 minutes per mile. They were comfortably challenging.

On Saturday I jumped on the early group ride and got 25 miles. I did not want the full 40 miles that they were getting. It was not a no holds barred ride but I was working hard to not get dropped. That would not have happened pre-Ironman – still recovering I guess. On Sunday I suited up for the afternoon group ride but as soon as I got outside the sky opened up and filled my eyes and ears with lightning and thunder – I 86’ed the ride to say the least.

This morning I did get in a 5 miler with about 100 percent humidity. I really tried to keep the exertion level low – my heart rate has been too high for the last few runs – the pace has not been fast but the heart rate has been high. I kept it low and disregarded the pace. I am slowly recovering. It is not like I am down and out I just still don’t have my snap. I’m not sure if it would be better to take a couple of days of complete rest or to continue with the active recovery – I just know that I am ready mentally to jump back into a serious training plan but do not think that my body is ready for sustained hard efforts.

On a side note, at beer club last night, I think I have a taker for the milk challenge (you have an hour to drink a gallon of milk and then you must keep said gallon down for 1 hour) – The poor sap thinks it will be easy – he says he loves milk – wow. That is a set up for disaster. I still think that I can be successful – I have been so close once before – within about 10 minutes of ‘keeping it down’. We will make a go of it again real soon.