So, I'm a tired guy right now. I ran over 10 miles today (this was in 2 sessions, one in the AM and one in the PM) and rode just over 25 miles on the bike. I'm a triathlete, by the way. I am preparing for my second half-ironman distance race coming up on June 3. Am I ready? I could be more ready, that's for certain. You see, having a child kind of upsets even the best laid (training) plans. Your quality and quantity of sleep definitely suffers. I'm just a busy guy right now! Did I mention that I'm starting graduate school next month? Yeesh!
This morning's run was a 4 mile "fun run." It cost $1 to enter - one of the cheapest races ever! Even with that, several members of my platoon scoffed at the prospects of paying their own money to do a run. I didn't tell that that I routinely spend much more than $1 to run races! (For example, I think the half ironman race I am getting set to do cost something like $200 to register for.) But that's what I like to do. It makes me feel good to run races. Back to this morning - 4 mile course (I think it's really a bit more than that, maybe 4.5 miles). I ran it in 26 min and 37 seconds, good for 3rd place overall. But wait - I thought I said it was a fun run. What's this crazy "overall place" business? Some of us are a tad competitive when it comes to running, that's all. If there's a time being kept, I am going to treat it like a race! So if you run the numbers on my finish time, it comes out to about a 6:40/mile pace. This is one of the main reasons that I think the course was 4+ miles - I sure felt like I was cooking along at at least my 10k race pace (about 6:25/mile, from a race within the last month). And I know that I did the last 1.5 miles in just over 9 minutes (the course covered part of our measured physical fitness run course on base). I was a mere single second behind the lad who finished in 2nd place. The sad fact is that I tried to wear him down over the last mile or so of the course, but I apparently didn't do a thorough enough job of it, for in the last 100m when I tried to kick in my kick, his young legs were able to easily propel him across the finish line just ahead of me. Darn it. Still, 3rd place isn't bad. Especially when you consider that the 1st place finisher was also from my unit! We nearly had a 1 - 2 finish!
This evening's workout was a "breakthrough" workout in preparation for the aforementioned half ironman race. This is the second peaking week. Next week is race week. I have been doing a lot of reading about how to do the peak and race weeks properly, notably "Going Long" by Joe Friel and Gordo Byrne. This book is very useful for long-course triathletes or triathletes who want to become the same. I am still working on getting better at longer races like the half ironman-distance (and someday, the full Ironman-distance race!). This book is one of the tools I am using to get the job done.
I'll write more about triathlons and exercise training another day. Right now, it's time to hit the rack - growth sleep!
No comments:
Post a Comment