Sunday: 28 Days Out

This wound up being a tough one. I started out with leaden legs. Despite this, I ran 21 miles. I would have run 24, but Denise had returned from the grocery store and the day was late. I did not want the long run to dominate the day entirely.

An interesting effect of training for a life time of marathons is that the athlete comes to perceive being tire or exhaustion as just something one works through and ignores. Today was a day like that. Jezz, I was tired, but being tired did not matter. So, I just did the miles.

People are often amazed upon hearing that I run 3 or 4 hours without a music device. Aside from the obvious safety issues of running alone with earplugs, I really have no need for the electronic crutches. Stepping out for a run is immersing oneself in the web of life. During my run this morning, I heard the pre-dawn cock crowing, robins stirring in their bowers as they awoke, the crickets in the wetlands in a symphony of humming, the prey squirrel screaming an alarm in a tree, probably at the sight of a prowling cat, and the predator hawk, screeching in the distance to signal its mate.

Finally, turning into the nortwest, the fall wind in my ears. It is a harbinger of the long, cold winter ahead.

I just have no need for earphones.

Saturday: 29 Days Out from the MCM

I have been sustaining a 50 mpw with weekly tempo run schedule and have 2 weeks left. In 08 and 07 I broke myself trying to get to this level. I'm amazed at how, with patience, the body adapts to greater and greater loads. Even the tempo runs feel natural....but never easy.

Sunday Run: Fall

It 44F out there. This will be my first run this season with gloves. There's a hint of red in the elms in our back yard. I've been watching the days shorten for weeks now.

It is 5 weeks precisely before my third MMC. With training, you can run a marathon faster, but its never easier.

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I ran 12 miles alone. The tempo training must be having an effect: my long run training pace has dropped by 30 spm. As usual, I picked up Denise and we went to Lake Artemesia. Her ankle is bothering her; she went for 6 miles. I then topped it off with another 3 miles.

Denise waited in a gazebo by the lake while I did my final 3 miles. By then, the temperature had reached the high 60s. We have run past this place in blustery 15F and wilting 90F weather. At that moment, when I joined her to stretch, the weather was perfect. The lake reflected a tree line just beginning to hint at fall and the blue sky above. The gentle breeze was just enough to cool but not chill. We lingered just a while to stretch, eat some post-long run snacks, and then leave the gazebo to the bee who seemed to find our fruit and yogurt smoothies so compelling.

Use it or lose it: knees

It makes sense: cartilage is living tissue. When stressed, then rested, living tissue gets stronger. So running should be good for your knees.

More research supporting this:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112556135

Lumpen Miles

I usually wake Denise for our runs by wafting the aroma of a cup of freshly brewed coffee under her nose at 5:00 AM or thereabouts. Then, to aid the coffee, I noisily shave and wash up. While she gathers herself, I take Peanut out for his 'pee and poop'. By the time I return to our bedroom, she is usually up, in running gear and stretching on the floor.

I am peaking for the 09 Marine Corps Marathon. The goal is to sustain 50 to 55 miles per week for the 2 months before my taper without breaking. This week is particularly challenging since I have a meeting up at AT&T Lab on Thursday and will miss that day for training.

Self Test

Denise and I vacationed in Oregon two weeks ago. The necessities of traveling caused us both to miss our long Sunday runs. Today, we returned to them.

I bring Denise her coffee at 4:45 AM. Since she still dozes, I leave it by her bed stand and prepare for running.

I started my run at 5:20 AM. I ran from the time of bats to the time of birds. The bats are difficult to see in the predawn light. If one does not look for them, it is likely one will never notice them. Looking in the trees and focusing on the darkness ahead, one can divine the tiny black bodies darting in their nightlong insect chase. While a faint light begins to grow in the east, their numbers quickly dwindle to none. Passing west of the neighborhood commons, I look east to see two glowing bodies: the pale blue sky and the fog hanging over the cold, wet grass with its unearthly light. A robin flits low and so close as to almost pass through my legs. The large hawk I routinely hear on this side of the lake, and sometimes am lucky enough to see, screeches as it hunts its morning meal. Our suburb is just rural enough to allow for a rooster's call in the distance. I have run into the time of birds.

I run 12 miles alone on neighborhood roads. Completing these, Denise and I drive to Lake Artemesia for her eleven miles along the Anacostia river system trails and parks.

When I have not gone long in more than a couple of weeks, my self confidence erodes and I begin to question my ability to run long. Its not a good feeling when only seven weeks remain until the Marine Corps Marathon. Denise and I find ourselves running in nearly 80F weather as the run stretches into the morning. Her evolution as a runner has been truly amazing. Denise's self confidence in her ability to run into double digits and also do it in the heat has greatly increased her enjoyment of the sport and bled over into greater self confidence in her appearance.

Others

Denise has been feeling a little under the weather over the past 2 weeks. I let her sleep in this morning. Today is a rest day for her so she does not run. I make her a cup of tea and leave it on her nightstand before I slip out into the predawn light.

As the days shorten, I find myself delaying my start in order to increase the time I run in daylight. Running in  dark winter mornings weighs heavily on me, particularly at the end of the season. We are just entering that cycle again.

I do six miles today. This is two loops in our neighborhood. By the end of summer the combined effects of summer fitness resolutions and cooling temperatures brings quite a few beginning walkers and runners out to the early morning streets. I have watched this cycle for five years now. I know these numbers will dwindle dramatically over the next three months.

So little in society reinforces behaviors that are conducive to fitness and health.....(more later)

Harbinger of Fall

Denise and I began our run at 05:30 this morning.  It was 50 F and breezy. The change was substantial from the the 90+ F runs before we left for Oregon. We even wore gloves.

 Seeing the neighborhood animal life is a major benefit to our early morning runs. Both a rabbit and a fox crossed our paths as we wound through the pre-dawn glow. Denise missed the fox; she has yet to see one of these furtively flit past in the world of humans.

I took Denise for 3.5 miles, then added another 5.5 alone.