Week of 09/14/2008 - 09/20/2008 (Base Week 27)

Endurance, the final frontier.

In the very beginning, there's tangible Ugly... everything is slow and short and feels like death. I know how to fix this part. You suck it up and you put in your days and your miles and eventually, you regain the ability to run for more than 30 consecutive minutes, or at a pace faster than glacial.

But then, after the beginning... there's this other place you go to, let's call it "Purgatory"... because that's what it feels like to me. Purgatory is deceptive. In some ways you completely resemble a functional athlete. I'm at the point now where I can run for 2 hours if need be, I can even run fast for approximately 2 miles... it's not like one can say "oh woe is me that I am completely out of shape". But I realized that the state of running purgatory is the state of lacking CUMULATIVE endurance.

I can't string together multiple days of good training (Exhibit A, after running 3 solid > 1 hour runs in Colorado, my body was completely trashed for days after I got back) ... and I also can't combine speed AND duration (Exhibit B, all tempo runs divert to Game Over after about 2 miles or 15 minutes, whatever comes first) There's something entirely lacking where consistency is concerned... Right now its not really about that tempo pace isn't what I want it to be... what's more immediately concerning is that tempo pace isn't SUSTAINABLE for very long. Maybe it doesn't always FEEL fantastic, but the sheer ability to maintain a high exertion level for 6-12 miles is something I realize I've always and completely taken for granted... and now it has vanished! Since 5K is the shortest race I run with any frequency, this poses a substantial challenge...

Here's the rub about Purgatory... its cruel because it's the illusion of being in shape. One day you feel fantastic, but then it takes 3 days to recover from it. A few days go really well... but then it crashes on down. It feels so close... so close you can feel it... but then, you realize it's not. There's something horribly wrong. But why, one might ask, is it too little training? Is it overtraining? Is it stress, is it medical mystery again? Why, why, why.... I've put in my time, it's been over 6 months and I shouldn't feel so terrible. What am I doing wrong to cause this?


Sunday 09/14: 1:40:45, Monterrey to RB perimeter and back on the other side. A good, solid long run. I felt really horrible in the morning. Stomach was gurgling and upset, and I was so, so, tired that I woke up at 6 am, then somehow walked around and then fell back into bed until I woke up in horror at 8 am. Thankfully it was still cool and foggy at this hour, but I just realized how exhausted I am. Nevertheless, I had business to take care of, including stamping out the memory of Abysmal Run yesterday. It took me a while to snap out of it, but after about 20 minutes I did regroup and focus, ran pretty easy to the RB, then picked it up a little bit for the perimeter, then ran a strong moderate pace the last 30 minutes back including fairly aggressively the last 5 minutes. I was pleased that fatigue wasn't a factor today and that I felt very much in control of all of my paces.

Monday 09/15: Off, shots. Legs actually feeling a little heavy today, glad its a rest day. Starting to feel pretty panicked about all the stuff that has to get done in the next few weeks...

Tuesday 09/16: 1:20:04, Bailey to Connector, 29:02 to camp, 48:15 to sign. Better splits this week, thanks to el HR monitor. Was interesting to have it... started off pretty easy 165-175, did most of the middle part up until the camp in 180-ish, then more like 185 past the camp, then 190-195 the last 3-5 minutes up heartbreak hill to the sign. Definitely under threshold this time until the very end. Felt alright, but total times are still moderately crappy. I guess I should give myself a break... it was warm and humid and on tired legs (and... really, the rest of me). Woke up with nightmares at around 3 am, tossed and turned still until 6 am, then decided I might as well get an early start driving to the trailhead in the dark... but the 210 East was blocked off at Michillinda, so I sat in traffic for 20 minutes while the sun came up and the temperature rose. So much for that plan.

Wednesday 09/17: 46:53, Monterrey recovery loop. Legs a little tired from yesterday, but felt surprisingly good. Went pretty easy, but probably managed a little faster than some recovery jogs... a good shake out for the legs. A nice morning, saw Ian and the Oxy women's team in the Arroyo!

Another side note that I forgot to mention yesterday, sprained L ankle fairly catastrophically coming down the Bailey trail. Stopped simply because I felt it roll so acutely, but then when I shook it out, I was boggled to discover... no pain. As I had to get back down either way, I decided at that time not to ponder too extensively whether I'd severed a nerve and the ankle would still turn purple and swell up like a basketball by the next morning... OR whether I finally succeeded in no longer having ankle ligaments left intact to sprain, thus making me effectively impervious to sprained ankles. Based on the fact that I only had mild soreness around the surgery site this morning, I'm going to vote for the latter. Woo hoo!

Thursday 09/18: 1:00:13, Monterrey to RB and back. Wanted to do a medley of paces, kind of like last week's surges, but it just felt so strained and forced so I settled back into an easy pace. Legs then suddenly felt drastically better after the turnaround point, so I cranked down the pace steadily through the last 30 minutes or so to turn it into a fairly solid progression run. Felt pretty horrible this morning after inadequate sleep and continuing stress, but felt a lot better after the run. Unfortunately, I slept in and got a late start, which meant that I ran into some grass mowers by the fields near the Arroyo and my nose has been dripping non-stop since then. Arrrghhhh... basically, the general rule is that only bad things happen when I don't get up at the crack of dawn.

Friday 09/19: Off, shots. A crappy day... stressed, sleep deprived, and generally feeling rather grim. Ate three cream puffs.

Saturday 09/20: 1:11:43, 9 laps warm up around the north field, 3 mile tempo at the track, 9 laps cool down around the north field. Slept in rather catastrophically... I think it was past 9 am when I got to the gym, and around 80 degrees. Was feeling pretty warm already when I started my warm up. Nevertheless, I powered through the rest of the workout, and it wasn't horrible. 3 miles in 6:53, 7:01, 6:55 for 20:49 total.

These actually felt like good, non-strained threshold miles. Had a little bit of trouble pacing the first mile, but then ran 1:45 laps fairly consistently. Also finally managed to get the third mile under control without the significant slow down factor. Maybe I can even do FOUR miles the next tempo session... Gotta get on that if I ever want to race 10Ks ever again.


Training this week: 5:59:38
Goals: Less stress... might help with the nightmares.