Leave the time behind

I have battled the folks at Garmin for five years now.  Longstory short,  I picked one of their first GPS running watches up back in 2006, five years later I am now in need of my fifth replacement.   I get a year at most out of these puppies. Shows you what four hundo gets you these days.   I’m onto the forerunner 610 now, the latest and greatest, we will see what that gets me.  I vowed never to patronize this company again,  but there just isn’t anything on the market that does what this watch does (trust me I have spent way too much time on it).   I won’t bore you with the details,  the point of the matter is that I would now have to suffer an entire week of training without a watch while waiting the transition for a new one.    I lost sleep with this on my mind.  I must be able to see my pace, my heart rate, and mileage on my left wrist.   I mean, what would become of me?  The longrun is already a sufferfest,  what if I run too fast, and burn out to quick, there goes the whole session.  If you are thinking I have a problem, possible running addiction,  well for sure I do.  I guess there are worse problems to have.  Well I got through the week,  I’m here,   life didn’t in fact end,  and I’m still hungry as ever. Actually, I thoroughly enjoyed the  Sunday longrun  watchless sufferfest .  In fact,   I learned a timeless lesson (Ron McLean pun intended).

Listen to your body.  It tells you everything you need to know.  I got back into the practice of zoning in and out of my runs, relying on my gut feeling of how hard I was working vs  breathing and speed.   Sunday, the longrun, was extra special.  I just ran.  Met some people along the way, engaged in some banter.   I’m pretty early in the training program so the run only called for 90 minutes.   Its all about time on my feet right now, not speed.   So rock the bare wrist people,  leave the watch at home once in a while and just go for it.

The Program Update

Two solid weeks in the books, with 8 days of running, some core and  cross train (cycle) workouts.  Looks like I have shed 3 lbs, weighing back in at 175.   I need to get inside 160 to have any shot at a Boston Q of 3:20.  No rush, lots of time. The key really is staying focused and healthy.   I ran a scheduled Tempo Run tonight,  coach called for  5 miles at approx  7:10/mile,  couldn’t get to that pace in the wind, so laid back and averaged 7:40’s. I cut it short at 4, just felt like I was working  way too hard for that pace.

Infirmary Report

Some interesting left knee pain,  its not my patellar (an old scary injury that took me out of  a marathon program a few years ago. In fact I was worried that I would never run again it hurt so bad) .  I’m not concerned,  I think I over stretched it by accidently sitting awkwardly bathing the kid after a run….. (It’s the boy’s fault again!).  Just need to keep it lose with some mild massage.

The weeks ahead

I will be hitting 33 and 36 miles per week.  With an 105 minute LR this Sunday then a cutback the following week.   Focus will be pounding the hill repeats,  need to build some power and kill some weight.  I’m really enjoying the added weighttraining  and cycle routines that coach has me on.  We are really going to go after my endurance this session, only achievable by developing a better frame.  One month until the first half marathon and 7 weeks until that nasty 30K.