Training Summary: 10/22 - 10/28

Mon: 6.5 miles
Tue: 7.5 miles, including a few light strides
Wed: 11 miles, including 6X1 mile on the track
Thu: 6.5 miles
Fri: 5 miles
Sat: 11 miles, including 5k race
Sun: 4.5 miles
Total: 52 miles

This wasn’t a bad week by any means, but it certainly wasn’t what you would call optimal training either.  Honestly, I’m just not feeling it right now, physically or mentally, which probably means some downtime is the appropriate course of action. The only problem with that is I had planned to take two weeks easy three weeks from now during a time when I know I won’t be able to run that much, or want to for that matter. If I back off now and hold it all the way through the planned downtime, that would be five weeks, which is longer than I would normally take for sure but might not hurt anything now that I think about it. For now, my plan is to tread water for a couple weeks, not really training hard but not taking it totally easy either, then take a couple weeks very easy as planned and go from there.

As for this past week, I sort of started the treading water process early. I backed down my normal mileage the first couple days then agreed to help Allie Kassens-Uhl with her mile repeats on the track on Wednesday. Heading into that workout, she had told me the goal was to run 6:10-6:20 with just one min recovery between reps, and I was actually a bit nervous that it might prove somewhat difficult for me to do. However, once we got started, much to my surprise it felt ludicrously easy. I played rabbit to the best of my ability, hitting laps times as evenly as possible, and the final total was 6 miles at an average of 6:12. This was one of those days that just makes me wonder. I can run that sort of pace and not even feel like I’m running hard, but take 30 seconds per mile off it and I’m struggling. That tells me one of two things. Either I need to really work on my mechanics and speed (which I know is the case) or I just need to throw in the towel on shorter distances and start racing marathons and ultras.

After a couple easy days on Thursday and Friday, I ran the Pumpkin Run 5k in Pipestem, WV, on Saturday, taking the overall win. I forgot just how difficult that course is, and after a fairly solid first mile, I basically just cruised the rest of the way, happy to get the win. The next morning, I decided to skip doing a long run and just went short and easy, again part of me starting the treading water process that I plan to do over the next couple weeks.

The highlight of my weekend was getting to run with my daughter in her first ever race. She decided she wanted to do the 800 meter fun run that was part of the events at Pipestem. Knowing that she’s never run more than probably a couple hundred meters non-stop, I figured she might find it was harder than she thought and wind up walking some of it, which I told her was fine if that’s what she needed and/or wanted to do. The gun fired and all the kids took off like crazy. As a matter of fact, I had tightened up after cooling down from my race, and the start was fast enough that I thought “Oh, crap!” Kaitlyn settled in around mid-pack then started to pass other kids. She wound up running every single step and actually ran a very smart race, passing a good number of her “competitors” but never getting passed herself. She even passed one girl, who was obviously much older than her, with about 100 meters to go then held her off at the line to finish 8th overall.

I can’t even describe how proud I was of her when she crossed that line. I could tell she was fairly uncomfortable the second half of the race, but she refused to walk and she even picked it up ever so slightly at the end. It was one of those moments that I will never forget. I couldn’t care less if she becomes a runner or not. It’s certainly not something I will force on her. However, on this day, she was truly a runner and reminded me of what is so awesome about the sport. She faced a challenge, didn’t quit, and accomplished a goal. As a side note, she broke 5 minutes for half a mile, which I didn’t think was too shabby for a five year old with no training whatsoever. She also got one of the awards they had for the top ten finishers along with a small pumpkin that all finishers received. Afterward she taunted me that she got a ribbon AND a pumpkin whereas I “only” got a trophy. She was definitely pleased with herself and well she should have been. Again, something I’ll never forget and one of those proud papa moments.

Below is a pic of the two of us after the race.