My Coach likes to believe that I’m faster than I actually am. Which is really sweet of him, but I ain’t that fast. So when I joined his Faster Finish class, he thought I was nuts. But the truth is, I needed it. There are always people that are faster than me and chasing them is the only way that seems to work . The best part is my training partner has joined the class as well. So like a greyhound with a rabbit to chase, I now have a target to follow. I call this the Greyhound Effect.
Week 1 was tempo run, with gradual pace increase every ½ of a Lower Loop:
7:52, 7:29, 7:16, 7:16, 7:05. Hey…excuse the double 7:16s...but it’s super fabulous that I’m actually running in the Seven minute range without throwing up. Good sign. However, this newly regained confidence was short lived, as by Thursday, I was feeling fat and slow again.
Enter 8X Cat Hill Repeats.
YO…Really? But then, the recoveries aren’t really recoveries here. The goal of the workout was consistent pace up and down, “Marathon Effort”. All sorts of lame excuses were made; different workout, tired legs, 10K race, Faster Finish, 9Ms Wednesday, and taking Wil “bitchy” Ashley’s Spin, but the bottom line was that I didn’t get it done. I crawled back with tail between my legs. (btw, I say “bitchy” as a compliment)
I immediately cried to my Coach, who said:
I immediately cried to my Coach, who said:
No need to beat yourself up over this workout! Your ascents were relatively consistent throughout the workout. I'm sure it felt harder since this was the third straight day of a tough workout. I never expect perfection, and would be a terrible coach if I did. And you should expect to nail every workout perfectly! If you were doing that, A. I'd be a lame coach since I'd be giving you workouts that were too easy or B. you wouldn't need me.
Remember, it takes a huge amount of effort to improve. Workouts like this one are designed to beat you up a bit. It doesn't mean you're a poor athlete if it was harder than you felt it should've been! Keep the big picture in mind.
Ok. So Long Run. I scraped myself off the floor, put my violin back, and headed out to Central Park. I was determined to do 2X Harlem Hills in this run and as many Cat Hills as I can possibly squeeze in for my 15M run. Perscribed pace was 8:30 pace. Since I lost all my confidence I decided to make Jean Claude Garmin STFU. I didn't want him telling me I'm a slow, fast ass. I decided to run completely by feel. Target “feel” was to be 70%, for 8:30 pace. I did much better than I thought I had!! Not particularly fast, but even pace up and down the hills which is really important for Boston Training. I don’t want to lose too much time in Newton! The overall pace was strong, and I think it's where I want to be with still 13 weeks to go.
I think despite all the crying and complaining, the hill workouts are working....Or maybe it was Greyhound Effect – there were three little blonde things I saw in front of me that was going at 8:00 or so pace. Or maybe it was just the crack.
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