12/28 - Paradigm shift

Today I did 1:15, avg. HR 122 if that. Just cruised and mixed-in some walking. And it dawned on me:

1. All along, I should have been running as long and easy as I could on my easy days. I have not done enough longer runs.

2. I'm not going to even attempt a "peak" and "taper" for this 21k. No way.

a. I'm going to train right-on through the race since that makes the most sense. I did this in the past per my coach's advice and things went pretty well.
b. Frankly, I don't have a clue about "peaking" and "tapering" other than the obvious common sense connotations. Who am I kidding. Just be healthy and ready to go at the line.

I think I'm a day away from all-systems-go. But instead of some version of panic to get in work-outs, I'm going to just keep running. Easy on easy days and harder on those particular days. Basically, I've been doing this except for the lack of very easy very long days. Gotta do it.

So no worries. I have an epic 21k on 1/9. Sure I want to rebuild my manhood. We'll see how it all plays-out.

For the sake of documentation, I will chart each day of running leading-up to the aforementioned confrontation with Boney. Gotta run!

Sunday 12/27

The weather has been quite cool for the December west coast. Seriously. And yes, the viral cold is still hanging around. As I look at the past 2 weeks of running, I am a little bummed (in light of my goal). The week of 12/14 - 12/20 was recovery (and I had just caught the cold). I welcomed the break, actually did stay "recovery" active, but on the 20th I got in a nice little 1:20 run which turned-out to be a little much on the lower respiratory, which is stressed only because of the notorious post-nasal-drip. Believe me, it sucks and probably sounds so lame I should have deleted that; but this is a training blob, too. Then I took it easy before doing a hard hill work-out with incline and steady pace, short but sweet. More easy/off days and then on the 24th I did a nice 7 miler on some nice single track. The cold was definitely still there, but the run was great. The cold seemed to be in a sheer toe-to-toe with my desire to go nuts on the trail. Err.

Took 2 days off and then today I went to the gym and did a work-out Lucho described according to his build-up to an ironman when he was dealing with a pretty severe cold. Basically, run and walk, repeat. He said it helped him get through the cold and maintain his aerobic fitness.

Looking back at the last couple of weeks, I have basically had three solid runs and a bunch of easier work-outs with a few actual days off. All in all, I think I've been a little careless with the HR, which might have prolonged this set-back? Who knows, but trying to train and get over a cold is brutal.

Today's treadmill work-out consisted of 30 mins of 5 walk, 5 ez run, 5 walk, 5 run. . . .HR never got higher than 130. I think this worked well. I spun for another 30 min. I am optimistic. 2 more days should bring me to 100%. I will then go nuts. I should be able to get in 3 to 4 or 5 days of really solid work. That's it.

I will be undertrained for this beast of a 13 miler. But it's just, in the end, a good day in one of our coastal ranges. And the beginning of a new year.

I have a new blog!

Check it out. . .please!

This is fo' real. 2010 is (almost) here and I gotta grow (and run a lot more!)

Thanks!