Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Wired
This past weekend was a filled with social races. Saturday morning was my alma mater's commemorative Hudson Relays. I wanted a good long warm up on this windy and drizzly morning, so I ran a five mile lap before running four different legs. Each leg was about half a mile and those legs really tightened up afterwards. By the way, my team - the alumni - lost yet again. We did not get lapped which seems to be our battle cry. Sunday morning I joined up with a former tri teammate and we entered a biathlon relay. We both knew we were out of shape so I ran the three mile leg and he rode fifteen. But I wanted to be at the Hinckley Du, to see some old CTC and Team ER friends. So if you haven't read them yet, check out the race reports from TriEric and DaisyDuc. They are seriously at the top of their games.
The weekend was topped off by catching Wired to Win. Pretty good show. And it fits in very well with my current mindset.
I'm wired a certain way. And I've known that for a long time. I don't know how to run 5k/10ks. I am not a time trialist on my bike. I am not even really a long course kind of guy. Go figure.
Somehow I am perceived to be "fast." So I can run quarters on the track pretty "fast." Or my Ironman or marathon times were "fast." But in races that are like standards for "fast" (ie 5k run) I'm really not that fast. I haven't been wired to deal with that kind of intensity for that kind of duration. I'll bet you would have never guessed my career 5k PR is only a 19:01, which I ran at my second to last 5k race in high school.
I'd like to get faster and I believe much of that has to do with rewiring my brain. I know how to run as fast as I can. I just spent a whole season running as far as I could. Now I need to find the threshold right before the pain sets in. A few years ago, a friend of mine said something that makes more sense to me now: "To get better at racing, get out and race more." By golly, I think I've found a little experiment for myself. I need to go out and race more.
Well I have a framework for my Boston Marathon plan (yeah I did say I would talk about my marathon plan, but it has not been meshed with my schedule. I've got some great ideas nonetheless.) and from the looks of it, I probably won't start on that plan until June sometime. So until then I'm going to try to step out of my box and try to get in some races in the next few weeks.
Fire up the neurons. It's time to rewire again.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
It was great to see you out there Sunday!!!
I am one of those that know you have smokin fast potential. Enjoy this time of stepping out of the box with some more races. Obviously, I enjoy racing a lot!!!
yeah going speedy! me too after pig!
Al,
I never perceive myself as fast. Before I consider if i can run sub 4 marathon, it will be a miracle.
Two thigns changed my mind:
i) I plugged in my running time for HIM run and it showed that I have hte potential of running a 3:20 mara.
ii) I met a runner from the pool last week and we talked about racing. He told me with a 1:49 HIM run, I have teh potential of running a 1:30 1/2 mara. If u translate that to marathon time..for sure it would be sub 4.
Now I think I can run a 3:30. And qualifying for BQ won't be too far away. At least not as far as 4 hr.
I will focus on marathon after my IM :)
Hey, if 19:01 for 5K is not fast, I really don't know what is. :-)
And a 5 mile warm-up?!?!
Hey Alan,
My blogger IQ is around a 10 so excuse me for posting as anonymous. Good seeing you at SS du/bi, sorry I didn't get to talk to you more. In my haste to get the kids some food, I didn't get your report. Lisa tells me she thought you won 2nd OA. If so, way to go, that is great. Regardless of place, I bet you won't soon forget your race belt. keep me posted on mary training
Best
Mark
That movie looks cool...I never heard of it and of course, missed the screening out here! darn.
Re: the running, funny but I tried all the speedwork, track and kept missing the boston q time. It wasn't until I worked on aerobic volume and high frequency (running everyday) that I Q'd for boston. Like those pfitz plans...I'd say if you could even get close to consistently hitting those workouts and even did them all aerobically, you would find your Z2 running speed getting close to Boston Q pace!! Just all the early runs at a slow pace suck! it gets faster soon enough though.
Good luck regardless of how you choose to go about it!
Hey speedy, just want to say thanks for the good catch. Princess Diana indeed, what was I thinking?!?!
Post a Comment