I can’t believe I want to talk about clothes. I mean, really? I’m a jeans and T-shirt kind of guy – I don’t devote a lot of grey matter to the vexing questions of vestments. But this is the thing about running: you can’t hide from the basic physical conditions and your dependence on them. Any talk about the meaning of running or running and philosophy or running and spirituality is great (and the realization of dependence is the key link between running and religion in my view) – but running is always rooted in stuff like clothes and shoes and weather and food and terrain. The basic stuff.
So before a run is really the only time I agonize over what to wear, especially in the transition seasons. Like today, it was bright and sunny and 2 degrees, but there was a stiff wind (30km/hour or more). I knew running tights were a must and that I didn’t need a second layer on bottom. But on top – that was harder – did I need 2 or 3 layers? The sun and temperature called for only 2 layers – but the wind, well, the wind changes everything, so I put on a third top layer. I knew mittens were also a must – but the toque. What the hell to do about the toque? Can you image this being an agonizing question? Okay, it wasn’t agonizing – I can take the darn thing off and run with it, but still – you know what I mean. In the end, I went with the toque.
Off I went on my 20-21k jaunt in the sun. I was doing an out-and-back on the Shubie trail. On the way out, I figured I’d made a big mistake going with the third top layer and the toque. But what the hell. On the way back, though, I was running into the wind – and it was like a completely different day. I would have frozen without the toque and the third layer. So weird – it was practically two different seasons depending on which direction I was facing. The weather needs to make up its frickin mind. And soon.
Nevertheless, it was a glorious run. The whole thing ended up averaging 4:24/k (just over 7:00 min/mile), but I threw in 3 miles of faster running on the trail that averaged between 4:00-3:50/k. I’m going to try to do that more often on my long runs – throw in some light threshold work to get my guts ready for the half. I think pushing a little while my legs are tired will pay some dividends mentally and physically.
Yesterday, though, my workout was another washout. Cliff set the workout at 3x1mile @ threshold (5:45-5:50) and 2x1200m @ 5:00/mile. He really thinks I’m capable of this crazy 5:00/mile pace. I’m not... yet. The three mile repeats went fine – two of them were even a little fast but still comfortable. The two 1200s, though, were misery. The first one was on pace at 400m, but I lost 5 seconds on each of the last two 400s. Mind you, this was in Point Pleasant with hills and dogs and twists and turns – but still, my legs felt too heavy for the pace. The second 1200 ended at 800m – I was barely doing 5:20 pace. Crappy.
I’m loving the running – but things don’t look promising for the 5k on the 9th. I’ll be lucky to go under 17:30. Guh.
