As I mentioned in one of my most recent posts, this week marked the start of my new clinical rotation at VCU Hospital. It is going quite well so far -- but along with my new work schedule comes a new workout schedule as well. My workout days are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday, and since this is the case, I have spent the last Tuesday and Thursday evening at the track. In the dark.
This is not a foreign experience for me, as I have run many workouts in the dark during the long, cold winter months while at JMU. On Tuesday, I arrived at approximately 5:45 (30 minutes after leaving my house, due to insane traffic in the city), to find the track bustling with people. It appears that Tuesday night is also workout night for at least one marathon training group, and the SEAL team (not real, badass SEALs, but a "boot camp" type program for adults). Immediately, I was faced with a serious dilemma: To run, or not to run, with my trusty iPod shuffle. I have been working out (I shamefully admit) listening to my trusty iPod shuffle, but thought it may not be the best option safety wise (and just plain embarrassing) with a track full of people. Due to this rationale, I decided to use my trusty iPod shuffle anyway. After a two mile warm-up off the track, and taking note of how crowded the track actually was, I re-assessed, and opted to not use my trusty iPod shuffle. Ok -- now that all of that red tape is out of the way, I can move on.
The workout went well. I am running all of my "speed" workouts at approximately the same mile pace as previous marathon training blocks, so I am feeling good about that. Currently, the volume is what is lacking. With 14 weeks of training still to go, I am not too worried yet. I do feel that my speed is improving, and obviously have ample time to improve even more.
Yesterday's workout (also in the dark), was a 5 mile marathon pace run. The goal was to really stick to race pace (6:40), so my actual goal was to not run a single mile below 6:40. Long story short, I ended up averaging about 6:43 pace for the run (score!). The good news: my legs felt awesome -- no fatigue. The bad news: my breathing sucked. I did not feel like I was aerobically able to sustain that pace for 26.2 miles.
As I cooled down and wrapped up my workout session, I was slightly disappointed. The more I thought about it, however, I realized that this is the purpose of training. If I was ready to run 26.2 miles at that pace tomorrow, I'd be about 14 weeks pre-mature. I still have 14 weeks worth of speed work, tempo work, and the ever important aerobic building long runs to do. That is called marathon training. Even though will be my 7th marathon and I am a wealth of training knowledge, sometimes I am a complete idiot. Whatever.
In other news: the Olympic Marathon Trials is tomorrow morning at 9am. My money is on Ryan Hall, but wouldn't put it past him to implode, giving the title to some other contender such as Ritz. Should be interesting.
As a budding PT student, I was wondering what you did for your clinicals and what you thought of them. I think that on your blog you should write more about your experiences at the clinicals and at VCU.
ReplyDelete