DeToxing

It used to be fairly common to see billboards around Philadelphia for a 48-hour detox regimen administered to heroin addicts. It used to be a particular sore point for guys I knew who worked at Penn's Treatment Research Center, as it had numerous dangers to it, and these somewhat shady operations must have gotten closed down as the billboards have been gone for awhile.

Well, I didn't run for the last two days - 48 hours. Its been two rainy, work-laden days with kids off of school and it was time for running to take a lower priority. It's been awhile that I took two days off without feeling guilty about it. Hopefully it got some of those toxins out of my system and got my cells weaned a bit from the need to pound the pavement. In other words I started my taper with a detox.

This detox regimen actually went about a half hour too long, as I overslept and would have slept longer had Kevin not woken me up before he left for work (an advantage of having a fellow runner as a roomie). So the planned 11 miler got whittled to 8 - a Sweetbriar loop. What used to be the morning for my dreaded but much anticipated BN workout today became my first time trying a fartlek workout. This was suggested by Mike a few weeks back and I'll lift some of his text from an email he sent me:

Map out a course between 8-12 miles, make sure it has some varied inclines, some up and down. If you can find someone to run all or part of it with you (that can keep up with you), all the better.

What is the workout? You make it up as you go. Only one rule, THERE ARE NO RULES-that is, do not do the same kind of running for too long. Vary the pace regularly-but it does not have to be planned. There should be some sort of change at least every five minutes.

This can be a great workout with an equally fit friend-you can take turns, almost like follow the leader, in terms of direction and pace. Ideally, there will be some hard running up hills, down hills, some 80-120 meter accelerations or sprints, some easy jogging, some marathon pace, some LT pace, some long run (slower than marathon) pace. The point is, you prepare yourself for a hard workout, but then be as creative as you can-it gives the body and mind a great workout without being in a routine.

I ran it solo this morning, and put my own twist on the fartlek. I put on the iPod and was listening to the latest cd that I'm raving about - JJ Cale and Eric Clapton's recent release Road to Escondido. I've always been a big JJ Cale fan, as has Clapton, and I was very excited when I heard one of their new songs on XPN last week - instantly recognizable. And the album is great. After warming up down to Penn campus (despite 2 days rest, I had a serious case of Old Man Walking this morning that lasted well into this warmup period), I set a pace and running style to go with the song that was playing, and changed pace and style as the songs changed. This was a good cd to do it to, as the songs are of varying tempos, and the end result was a that my running felt like I was dancing to the music. I ran hard, but the workout didn't feel hard.

The climax of the run came on Haverford Ave., when the song "Ride the River" (the song I first heard on XPN) came on just as the hill lay in front of me west of 46th Street. I ran it with everything I got and felt the sheer exuberance and unbearable lightness of just running fast. Good to feel that again.

8 miles in 54:45. Normally I would look to get a second workout in later on, but, hey, I'm on my taper!

Moving on trains and airplanes, is all we do,
I'm running right behind her, just like she wants me to.
Makes me no difference when all is said and done,
Heading west, to the setting sun.
Well, my heads in Georgia but my feet are California bound. . .
(Clapton & Cale)

19 more days.