Ebb and Flow

Tonight, the tides will rise unusually high. The moon is in perigee (the closest point to earth along its elliptical orbit) and it is full. When it rises this evening, it will be brighter than usual – and it will look huge. Some folks think a moon in perigee disrupts earth’s internal energy systems, causes disasters. It’s doubtful. Nevertheless, I bet police and emergency doctors will have their hands full tonight – the lunatics will be out!

I’m not going to blame the moon, but my running has been ebbing and flowing more radically than usual this week. I went to the track on Tuesday (rather than Wednesday) to do a V02 max workout, and I tanked it. Cliff started me on 1200m at 80s per lap – 3:20/km pace, a pace I could manage okay last year at this time. The first and second were pretty much right on, but I could feel myself giving a bit more than I would’ve liked. For the third and fourth, Cliff had me increase to 1400m – I was barely hanging on to the pace. In fact, for the second one, I fell off the pace for the last lap and a half. Then 800m into the third 1400, Cliff pulled me out of the interval. I had slowed so much on the second lap that he just stopped me cold.

I couldn’t believe it – I’d never been pulled out of an interval since starting with him. But my legs just wouldn’t go. My heart and lungs felt okay, but my legs felt full of lead.

What happened next, though, was vintage Cliff. I’d done 6k worth of volume, but he wanted closer to 8k, and even though he’d pulled me out of the third 1400, he didn’t want me to give up on the workout. This is what he said: “I’m going to make you feel good about yourself now.” I had no idea what he meant. He lined me up and told me I was going to do another mile, but broken up into 4 x 400m with short recoveries. Easy, he said. For the first one, I was supposed to run the same pace – 80s. I came around in 78s. “Too fast,” he said, “which is too bad because you have to run the next one a second faster – just stay smooth.” Off I went on dead legs, eager to please – 74s. He shook his head. “You know the drill – run this one faster than the last.” 72s. I had to stretch for that one. Then he lined me up for the last one and just smiled. I gave what I had left and crossed in 70s. It was great.

Overall, the workout had been a failure, but he managed to squeeze a success out of it. My legs were dead, but even at the end of 7.6k of work my fastest 400m was my last. He’d transformed a broken V02 workout into a successful workout about digging deep. He’s a wise coach.

I took the next day off – which, as he told me today, was a mistake. A recovery run is crucial for getting the junk out of tired legs. Oops. I ran slowly on Thursday and Friday, but my legs didn’t feel fully recovered after either one. There’s some deep fatigue in there. But today, I was able to do over 30min of solid threshold running despite my tired legs. All my mileage has given me guts, but it’s zapped my speed – I just need to be careful on my off days.

Or maybe it’s just the moon messing with me.

Zeegwun and Bebon

Yesterday, it was 8 degrees and sunny; today it was -10 with the windchill, and there were flurries. Guh. Reminds me of the Ojibway story of Bebon (winter) and Zeegwun (summer) that Basil Johnston tells in Ojibway Heritage. During spring and autumn, the two fight over a beautiful woman – sometimes Zeegwun gains the upper hand, sometimes Bebon. Yesterday, Zeegwun must have landed a nice combination on Bebon, but today, the feisty man of winter had recovered and put Zeegwun on the mat. I know Zeegwun is going to take it eventually – I just wish he would put the fight away with a quick flourish.

Alas.

Alex, Nick, and I took advantage of the mild sunny weather (Zeegwun’s good fortune) yesterday to do our long run in Shubie. We took it easy – just did pleasant, conversational-pace running – and I managed 23k without too much trouble in order to cap off my first 100k week in a month. Felt good to get back into triple digits.

Today, Alex and I braved the cold for 14k. We did our best to run recovery pace – to run agonizingly slowly – and we didn’t too badly. We still averaged faster than Haile Gebrselassie does on his recovery days (see my previous post), but we weren’t as fast as we sometimes go when the conversation is interesting and we forget to pay attention to our effort levels.

On the run, I was thinking about that tendency amateur runners like me have of looking at what the pros are doing in order to get training ideas. And I was thinking today that maybe it’s not such a good idea after all. I mean, guys like Haile are outliers – the very best of the very best – so it could well be that what works for their bodies may not really work for a body like mine. There’s this assumption that average runners are the same in kind as elites – that we only differ in degree. Maybe that’s not true.

Of course, I have no evidence to say yes or no to the assertion that average runners are usefully comparable to elites, so the discussion can’t really go any further. But I wonder if it would make more sense to study the training habits of a range of successful average runners in order to gage what might work best for the majority of road warriors.

Just a thought.

Saturday's Workout

Yesterday, night and morning rains made Shubie Canal waters run fast – but not me – I ran slow. Skipped out on the group session because the rain was torrential in the morning. I know, I know – that’s so weak and soft, but don’t worry, I was appropriately punished.

I waited for the rain to stop, and when it did around noon, I headed out to Lake Banook to run milers back and forth along the trail. The mists were rising thick off the lake. The air was mild. Perfect conditions.

The schedule said V02 max stuff for Saturday, so I decided to do 3 x 1mile at 5k pace or a bit better. I was hoping for 5:20/mile (3:20/km), but according to my Garmin, I wasn’t even close: 5:40, 5:25, 5:40. Nasty. The really scary part is that the pace felt fast. I wasn’t struggling, but it felt fast.

It wasn’t.

There are 4 weeks until the Lung Run 5k. I thought I was going to crank out a PB, but if I’m working just to get 3:31/km (5:40/mile), then there’s no way. Not even close. My current PB pace is 3:24/km. I guess I just haven’t been training hard enough. I’ve put in lots of miles, but my fast workouts haven’t been fast enough.

Today, I’m looking for 23k from my long run – nice and easy under the spring sun. It'll be my first 100k week in a month.

Spent this morning reading the news. There’s a lot going on in the world right now. I’m grateful to be able to run and celebrate life.