Races with Squirrels
I swear this happened. I was on Ford Road, just before Chamounix, when I saw two squirrels running on the sidewalk trying to gain on me. A quick burst put an end to that, and about 20 meters later, as I pulled ahead of the squirrels, I know I saw a look of disgust on their faces as they turned off into the bushes.
This morning I had caramels on my mind. Clarence DeMar, the Babe Ruth of marathon running, once had a pre-marathon breakfast that included a pound of caramels. This was back in the 20's, and was considered the latest "scientific" (evidence-based, no doubt) approach to enhancing marathon performance. DeMar actually won the race with all that gooey stuff oozing around his guts, but said he wouldn't do it again because it took so damn long to eat them.
But pardon my arbitrariness this morning. Yes, I did get a run in. Overslept and missed Club West Philly. Once I did get out of the house I resolved to revisit the workhorse loop of last fall, when I was training for the Philly Marathon. For old times sake I mapped the course out here. I used to do tempo runs in two 2-mile segments. The first was the toughest, starting at 34th and Market Sts. (1.75 miles into the course) and going on the hilliest part of the Philly marathon course. Then it was a half mile or so downhill cooldown and another tempo burst on MLK up to Falls Bridge.
Last year I had to bust my ass to get the first tempo segment under 12 minutes; today I nailed it in 11:32. Second segment went down at the same pace - 11:31. I then kept going up BN (1.4 miles in 8:48) and all the way to Belmont Plateau in 16:19 (2.65 miles total). I never hammered this part last year and, I see that I've again lowered last weeks times on this part. I don't know if anyone besides me is able to follow this stuff, but this is heady stuff.
So if yesterday finished my recovery from the Distance Classic, tomorrow starts my taper for Masters XC Nationals. I'm going back to long slow mileage, as I want to be fresh for that race. I see this race differently because I'm not running for me, I feel I'm running first and foremost as part of a team.
12.5 miles in 88:25.
*******************************
The dogs on Main Street howl 'cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy, no I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land
(Bruce Springsteen)
This morning I had caramels on my mind. Clarence DeMar, the Babe Ruth of marathon running, once had a pre-marathon breakfast that included a pound of caramels. This was back in the 20's, and was considered the latest "scientific" (evidence-based, no doubt) approach to enhancing marathon performance. DeMar actually won the race with all that gooey stuff oozing around his guts, but said he wouldn't do it again because it took so damn long to eat them.
But pardon my arbitrariness this morning. Yes, I did get a run in. Overslept and missed Club West Philly. Once I did get out of the house I resolved to revisit the workhorse loop of last fall, when I was training for the Philly Marathon. For old times sake I mapped the course out here. I used to do tempo runs in two 2-mile segments. The first was the toughest, starting at 34th and Market Sts. (1.75 miles into the course) and going on the hilliest part of the Philly marathon course. Then it was a half mile or so downhill cooldown and another tempo burst on MLK up to Falls Bridge.
Last year I had to bust my ass to get the first tempo segment under 12 minutes; today I nailed it in 11:32. Second segment went down at the same pace - 11:31. I then kept going up BN (1.4 miles in 8:48) and all the way to Belmont Plateau in 16:19 (2.65 miles total). I never hammered this part last year and, I see that I've again lowered last weeks times on this part. I don't know if anyone besides me is able to follow this stuff, but this is heady stuff.
So if yesterday finished my recovery from the Distance Classic, tomorrow starts my taper for Masters XC Nationals. I'm going back to long slow mileage, as I want to be fresh for that race. I see this race differently because I'm not running for me, I feel I'm running first and foremost as part of a team.
12.5 miles in 88:25.
*******************************
The dogs on Main Street howl 'cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister I ain't a boy, no I'm a man
And I believe in a promised land
(Bruce Springsteen)
posted by seebo | 9:07 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home