Flat tires and calculators

After the race on Sunday I attended a running club meeting. Shortly after the meeting I went to bed. I was dog tired after the race. It was a combination of getting up at 3:30AM and running a solid 30K.

Monday I let the legs rest and slept in a little bit. At lunch I had a swim. An easy 250 warm up followed by 10 x 100 alternating using paddles. I could really feel my back muscles during the swim.

After the swim I did a quick circuit training round. Nothing much.

On Tuesday morning I was going to jump on the bike and extend the intervals that I started last week. I want my get my bike back in shape – I have been concentrating on the running for the past few months. I programmed the trainer – the intensities would be the same but instead of 1 minute on / 2 minutes off I was increasing the on and decrease the off. The new intervals would be 1:15 on / 1:45 off. I was excited. When I did the intervals last week they were comfortably hard – it felt solid. When I got on the trainer the tire was flat. Don’t get me wrong, I would rather have a flat indoors at home than out on the road – but it did put a damper on the training session. I changed the tire quickly even though I had to remove some of the trainer attachments (cadence sensor, etc.) but there was just not enough time to complete the session. I made a mistake and tried to do a much harder, shorter workout. This was not to be. I am still planning on hitting the track after work. I will get my running intervals. Maybe I can get an easy ride tomorrow.

I have talked about the “McMillan Running Calculator” before (turn your volume down), but this thing continues to impress me. When I first started looking at it a couple of years ago I would input my 5K times and it would spit out fantasy half and full marathon time. I mean they were nowhere even close to what was possible. My real half marathon times would equate to a 5K time a minute slower than actual. Well, as I have updated my time the calculator, it is coming into line – perfectly. Updating the tool with my latest 30K time – my 5K time is now ‘projected’ to within 2 seconds of actual and my 25k time is within seconds. This calculator projects my marathon time to be 3:06:19 at a 7:07 minute per mile pace. It also says that I have been sand bagging my half marathon time – it wants me a minute faster. I will try to prove the calculator correct.