Doldrums

It’s Saturday night, and I’m doing work. How sad is that? But before I settle down I’ll catch up on a few days of inaction on this blog.

I got home last night from Washington DC, where I was attending a conference. Traveling usually plays havoc with trying to keep my running regimen going, and this trip was no exception. On Thursday I took the 6:05 a.m. train to DC, spent all day in the conference, had dinner with a friend from my college days, and got back to the hotel at 8:45. The hotel fitness center closed at 9. SOL or DNR… you decide.

Got up early on Friday, but decided to take a few minutes for one last go through of the presentation I was scheduled to do that morning. After that I got down to the fitness center. $14 for a workout. I talked the attendant into waiving this fee for me only to find the treadmills filled. I got in some lifting while I was waiting, and was running late [sic] by the time I got on the hamster wheel. The workout I had for Thursday, which I moved back to Friday, was 10 miles in 59:45. Luckily the hamster wheel went faster than 6 minute pace and I set it for 5:52 right from the get-go. Did this for 5 miles in 29:28 and had to dismount to take a bathroom break. Whenever this happens I have a hard time getting back into rhythm. But I got back on the horse, 6 minute pace, and became more aware of how hot and humid it was and how I was feeling like, well, shit. At about 2.5 miles (7.5 total) I started wondering if I’d be able to finish. At first I saw it as a mental exercise; I needed to hang in there. But with each quarter mile I started wondering more and more. It wasn’t as if my legs were going to die or as if I was going to get out of breath, it was just a feeling of imminent collapse before I hit mile 10. This feeling just started getting stronger and by mile 3 I couldn’t see myself as finishing up the remaining two. Hard to explain, but I didn’t see it and didn’t see the point in slowing down the pace. I gave it another quarter mile and things didn’t get any better and I gave it up.

This is a real shitty place to be at, and maybe that’s why I rarely put myself there. I know myself well enough by now to know that I would never give up the ghost unless I knew it wasn’t gonna happen. But inevitably as soon as I stopped recriminations set in. This was a marathon pace workout. I should be able to do ten at this pace in my sleep. Etc. etc. etc. I finally told myself to just shut up with this chatter and call it a bad morning. And, my friends, that’s what it was. Luckily my presentation went better. 8.25 miles in about 49:15.

That’s put my running in a further funk. Fortunately today was an easy day, a day I could use to regroup. 6 miles. I wasn’t in to doing it and waited as long as I could before it got dark. I got my shoes on and went out to Tinicum. 25 minutes in and turn around and go back. My legs were still dead from yesterday’s workout, and the best feeling I could equate it to was a hangover. If legs could drink this is how they would feel on the morning after – hurting and depressed. I stuck on the path that paralleled I-95 and the solitude settled me down. Running alone with the dull roar of the interstate in the background led me to thoughts of Robert Frost’s “The Road Less Traveled.” Not in the metaphorical sense that has been thoroughly hackneyed by now, but in the literal sense. 25 minutes got me right to the tip of the second loop of the figure 8, and I turned around. I tried hard to lose myself in my surroundings, which were getting darker into the sunset. My friend the red-tailed hawk was on a tree in the usual spot I see him. At around mile 4 I was up for doing strides, and I did them. Nothing systematic, just some sprints for however long I felt like sustaining them mainly to show myself that I could do them and still get enjoyment out of them. Mainly because of the strides, the back 3 went by in 22:40. Total for the 6 miles (probably a bit longer) was 47:41.

Tomorrow’s a time trial on the track, same as the one last Saturday that went awry. 2400 meters at 75 seconds per 400. Basically a workout to see if I can run sub 16 5k pace for just about half the 5k distance. I don’t have much confidence in my ability to do this going into the workout, stay tuned for tomorrow’s workout to see how it goes.