Oh, those were the days. Enough about my past foibles, however, and back to instances of present-day ridiculousness.
- I'm happy to report that I ran a few relatively pain-free miles this afternoon. I covered four loops around Elm Park in 21:30 after my appointment with Dr. Sjogren. That bastard Achilles of mine actually cooperated more than it has of late, which was a nice gesture on his part. The sucker looks almost normal again and I've successfully weened myself off the anti-inflams - both welcome signs. I'm definitely not in the clear just yet, but as long as I'm careful not to do anything too stupid the next few days, I think I might be on the right track to having this thing licked. The plan at hand is to take tomorrow off from running and then shoot for 5 miles on Friday and possibly a little more on Saturday. Hopefully this works out and gets me back on track by next week.
- Driscoll and I had a nice talk about training on the way home from Easton last night and later exchanged a few different articles and logs of mutual interest. The conclusion we came to, in a nutshell: steady doses of strength work are the best recipe for long-term development; occasional well-placed hits of speed, however, are necessary to achieve your maximum potential. Overdose on the speed component, however, and you're likely gonna crash and burn. It's a tricky equation to master, the key is finding the right mix that works most effectively for you. This is hardly revolutionary - it's the same exact message preached by Lydiard and any other fine coach worth his or her salt - but it seems to make much more sense when you can figure it out for yourself.
- Going off the above realizations, this afternoon I started making a long-term training blueprint for the Chicago Marathon in October. Of course, I've got to get back to full strength before I can actualize my plans, but if there's one thing I've got on my side right now, it's a little bit of time - so no need to rush just yet. The plan itself is in it's very rough stages,and I've got a handful of people whose brains I want to pick about a few different things, so I basically started working backwards from October 22nd and outlined some races and key workouts I'd like to hit as I focus on trying to get under the 2:22 standard. Even though it's still very early at this point, I'm pretty pumped about preparing to go after a Trials qualifier in the fall. After all, it's not the destination that matters, it's the journey. Right?
- Speaking of the Chicago Marathon, I found out from Sean this afternoon that his main squeeze Dianna just won a New Balance contest and will also be running in the Windy City on October 22nd. That being said, it didn't take long for Mr. McRun to join in the fun. It will be exciting to tow the line, as well as prepare for the race, with some fellow former Chieftains, as well as a fairly large bunch of bruisers from the Bay State, including (from what I'm told by various sources) LaRosa, Nate, Terry and one or both of the Moulton boys I'm sure. The more, the merrier, as far as I'm concerned.
- I'm also concerned that I'm gonna be pretty tired in the morning if I don't get my ass to bed soon, so that's gonna do it for tonight. Take it easy all.
Quote of the day:
Wow, you really like to beat the hell out of your body, huh?
- Dr. Sjogren
2 comments:
"Overdose on the speed component, however, and you're likely gonna crash and burn."
Well said. Maybe it'll stick in my mind this time because I'm reading it while massaging a tender case of PF with a lacrosse ball--when I should be out doing another 3-4.
Yes, hopefully I'll remember these Ides of March as the villain PF touched my body and did stab not for justice! (cf. Act 4, Scene 3)
Good luck preparing for Chicago! You still have plenty of time, so as long as you are able to start training fresh and injury-free in a few months, I think you'll have a good shot at sub-2:22! It will be nice to have more familiar faces in the '08 Trials...
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