"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."








Sunday, March 13, 2011

You waited a week... for THIS?

Not blogging for the past week has been harder than expected; I really had become addicted. Suddenly, there's 300 things other bloggers have written that I have to go through - did everyone decide to make up the slack, or is it just the beginning of training season for most people? You'll soon see that I didn't spend the week writing and polishing blog posts! I did see the King Tut exhibit here in town ("where Tutankhamen meets the 2-Ton Commoners") and I finished off reading George Orwell's "Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters;" I dislike "Animal Farm" and "1984," but Orwell was a great prose writer and I found his criticisms of other writers to be endlessly interesting - if wrongheaded.

Training's gone well. I managed 78.5 miles in the past week, even though I was recovering from a throat and sinus infection. Yesterday, I went for a long run, even though the weather sucked yet again. Here's the windchills (in Fahrenheit) for my Saturday runs: -17, -9, 0, -9, 14 (evening), 11, 17 (sick), 8, -2, 5, 0. That's eleven consecutive sucky Saturdays. Yesterday, where the sun hit the path, snow melted, then it refroze in shadows; wind drifted snow on top of the ice; water started flowing over the icy patches making them harder to negotiate; eventually water flowed under the ice and the ice would crack under my weight - I imagined an Eskimo saying, "Even I don't have a word for that."

I spent some time this week thinking of training as an engineering problem, something I first attempted unsuccessfully in high school, where I figured that on a track, if one controlled the distance, pace and rest interval, the number of repetitions possible would be determined. I failed then because of weather problems, because I improved as I trained and because one workout interfered with the next. I think I've cracked part of ultramarathon training using three dimensionless numbers and boundary conditions.

Gave me something to think about, other than "this run sucks."

From the last poll: Naimh="Neev"; Eithne="Enya"; Siobhan="Shavonne"; Aiofe="Eefa" and Caoimhe="Keeva"

9 comments:

Deb said...

Those are, indeed, some craptastic temps in which to do a long run. And recently my mileage is so pathetic that it take me about three weeks to cover what you're doing in one. I'm impressed!(Not nearly as impressed, though, as I am with your ability to pronounce utterly unpronounceable names. "Caoimhe" = "Keeva"??? Seriously? They should just stick with "Colleen" and "Shannon" and call it good.)

SteveQ said...

@Deb: but isn't Deb pronounced "MPGJJTV"?

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Is that the same voice that sings "You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch"?

Jean said...

You are absolutely correct about the consecutive streak of sucky Saturdays. This winter has been unreal!

Anonymous said...

"Down and Out in Paris and London" is one of Orwell's better creations.

Fast Bastard - World's Fastest Hematologist said...

78.5 miles is more than I have ever run in a training week.

shannon said...

John Stuart Mill is another great prose writer. I read "On Liberty" several years ago and was absolutely mesmerized by his writings, prose but bordering on poetry.

joyRuN said...

I've been getting so much organizing done when not blogging.

Siobhan="Shavonne"

I'd always wondered about that. Good to know.

Psyche said...

I should be concerned that I have so much in common with this post. I think. I'll get back to you on that:)