Monday, June 21, 2010

Superslug to Superman

Well, hello again! How are we all today?
I, personally, am in a much improved mood than I was following my last blog. On Sunday I went out to the XC course at Fort Henry and did my 70 min run. Probably the longest run I have done in the last 6 months and far from being a slow death-march, it was actually quite enjoyable! I cycled over, ripped off my shirt to let the ole washboard get some rays, plugged some Pink Floyd into my ears and off I went for 7 laps. The trick to this was that I started off slow and gradually let myself speed up. I started out at about 10mins per lap (2.5k) and worked down to just under 9mins. I found myself at 1:06:00 after 7 laps so I tacked on an extra 4mins. I considered doing a full extra lap, but alas, I still find myself a little squemish in approaching the 20k mark.....just seems a little much. Maybe next year I'll try it. And what does a person do/think about for 70mins, you might ask? Not much really. I sometimes chastise myself for not using such time to devote to deep and meaningful thoughts and sorting out issues in my life, but somehow when it comes to it I end up just looking around, thinking about running, checking the watch, singing etc etc. I have decided that this time is good to wipe the slate clean and allow my mind to relax before returning to the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Monday...today, I woke up feeling refreshed and with no apparent residue of the last few days' efforts in my legs. Today's workout was a typical sprint practice. We middle to long distance fellows always make it a point to emphasize to the sprint folk how much more and harder we work each practice than they do. Good naturedly of course, because most of the time we are a little jealous. So it was a nice change when Kev outlined the workout as just a few laps with a couple 50m and 100m sprints thrown in. Some I did in racing flats (very minimal training shoes) while others were done in my spikes - which I must point out are already beginning to split on the outside edge of the right shoe....flippin waste of money! Anyway, the point was to work on my form at my very top gear. This is important so that when I hit the homestretch at the end of a race, my legs know exactly what to do. Crossing the line today at top speed, I felt like Clark Kent in Superman Returns when he discovers he is Superman and can take a running leap from the silo in the middle of the cornfield back to the barn....I just wanted to leap in the air like that and see how far my momentum would carry me. It was absolutely exhilarating and reminds me of why I run. I didn't actually take that leap in case you were wondering, for fear of pulling something or bashing my nose into the ground, but I did think about it.

And that's about it really.....from the valley low to a mountain high in the span of two days....such drama! What more can you ask for?

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