Who Fartlek'd? The Steep Learning Curve Of Mile Repeats

A little fatigue set in on Tuesday following a brutal introduction to mile repeats by my friend Vanessa. My legs were a little bit on the jello-y side for the rest of the evening, but I managed to squeeze in some much needed rest. 

Tuesday's workout called for a bike/run. I ran to the track to meet my buddy Vanessa, who just came off of an impressive 3:38 at Boston. She thinks she could have ran it faster, and I have no doubts that next time around, she most certainly will. The plan was to do mile repeats on Tuesday. The run from my house to the track is almost three miles. I had to leave a little later than I wanted to help get the boys off to school. When I arrived there at nine, I was already  sweating fiercely. If I have not already mentioned, it went right from mid-50's to 88 degrees in the matter of a day here in western New York. What is up with that? Anyway, the humidity Tuesday morning was right around a bazillion percent. (funny, spell check recognizes the word "bazillion.")

Here is Vanessa trying to convince me that mile repeats are a good idea.

This is me NOT buying it.

For those of you who do not know what mile repeats are I will give you the skinny: Basically,  you take your the average of your best 10k times as a base for your first split. So, if your average 10k time is somewhere in the 48 minute range, you want to run your first mile split in about 8:00. With each consecutive  split, you want to run 5 to 7 seconds faster. In between splits, you run a slow recovery lap around the track before you delve back into the fiery furnace of pain. 

It was time for my first go. Eight minute mile. I got this. Run Forest run. I crossed the finish line in 7:35—waaaaaay too fast for a morning with a bazillion percent humidity. 

I took a swig of GU2O and did a recovery lap. As I was running the lap with Vanessa, I expressed concern that she might have to resuscitate if I run any faster. She said that I ought to try and run at least the same split, or 3 seconds faster. Okay, second time around, I finished right at 7:33. So, I ran over to my water, poured it on my head and started running my second recovery lap. It seems so easy. Here we go, third time around:

This is me feeling completely dejected after my miserable attempt at mile repeats.

We planned on running five mile repeats this morning. I am embarrassed to admit that I only was able to do two. I got less than a quarter mile around the track on my third repeat and the body said, "Excuse me... what are you doing?" I had to shut it down. I did, however, run it back to the house with Vanessa talking about medievalist nerdy stuff (she's a nerdy medievalist,) although, she is not really nerdy, but supercool. I learned some valuable lessons as a result of my feeble first attempt at a track workout:

1) Do not go out past 7:00 a.m. to start mile repeats. 

2) Don't believe Vanessa when she says she "I am not trying to kill you," then laughs hysterically as she turns around and heads toward the track.

3) Try NOT to run in bazillion degree heat with bazillion percent humidity. 

Later on that afternoon, I hopped on my bike and did a ride out to work. I made sure I went the extraordinarily long way, because it is not that far to work—only 11 miles, but I made it fifteen. I did some work and rode back a couple hours later. The legs were a little fatigued Tuesday evening. 

Today I had my first swim lesson with Coach Jack. That's right, you heard it here. I decided I did not want to go on being a less than average swimmer. Coach Jack is awesome. More on my lesson and progress later. This evening i ran my 8.35 mile course in 1:05:36, completely shattering my old course record (set on Sunday) by four minutes! Think I am steadily getting the nutrition part down on my long runs. No lower g.i. issues today—thank goodness!

Breaking News: Stella got her first hair cut yesterday. 

Here are the before and after pictures:

Isn't she cute?

Rig Update: Rig is being built by the only cat I trust to do it. I will be taking some pics and movies of the build and sharing them on my blog. Very excited for the build. More excited to ride it!

More soon. Train Smart!

Update: Work Induced Ironman Tapering And Other Detours

Oh, what a marginal week of training will do for your psyche and endurance. You're probably expecting some self deprecating talk about how  terrible my training is going, and that I should probably give it all up and take up sewing.

Much to the contrary, my work induced tapering this past week left me feeling suspiciously strong this weekend, with a lot of extra fuel in my tank. I had an awesome 20 mile climb before returning 20 miles back home on my bike and running four miles alongside my son Julian, who I had promised could go for a bike ride while I run. He was so excited to be out there with me. I almost had to stop when he asked me if he could have a gel so he could go faster. Today, I ran a short 8 mile stretch in an hour.

One thing will definitely change once my semester is over at the university. I am committed to getting back in that weight room and pumping iron. It should be a little bit easier since I will have my wife's cousin up again this summer spending time with us. If you have not heard about him already, his name is Matthew, and he lost 72 pounds the summer he lived with us by changing his eating habits and exercising—a virtual lobotomy. I get to chronicle his progress here, as well as mine.

Getting back in the pool is on definitely on the agenda this week. I am going to try to fit in my three swim workouts. There is really no reason why I shouldn't, other than the fact that I love making excuses not to swim: my shoulders are sore, the pool is too warm, the Loch Ness monster resides in the water.

Update: Mucho congratulations to my running buddy Vanessa Taylor, who finished her first Boston Marathon with a time of 3:38:51. Way to go little buddy!

To all my blog buddies: Sorry I have not visited in a while. I miss reading your posts when I get so busy, but it is great fun to visit your blogs and hear completely unexpected things going on in your lives once time presents itself again. It is like watching an entire season of LOST or Battlestar Galactica over the summer in a few weeks... well,  minus all the kick-ass cylons, and electromagnetic fields.