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








Friday, November 18, 2011

The only good workout...

...is the one you actually do.

I haven't run for a couple of days. I just haven't felt like it. Part of the problem is that I've been thinking about a race that's 10 months away. The winners of that race tend to be able to do marathon at better than 6 minutes per mile and I never did that even in my best years, decades ago. In my two 100 mile finishes, I've finished last and fourth-from last. It seems a foregone conclusion that I can't do it well. I know I can finish the thing without too much effort, but the idea of training all year to run a mediocre race just isn't appealing at the moment.

I need to "get my head right" before I do anything else right now.

5 comments:

Colin said...

Sounds like you need to find some winter/spring racing goals to keep up the motivation!

I'm confident you can do very well if you train consistently (not too hard!), stay healthy, and race smart.

Also who cares how fast the winners can run? Good for them, but you've got to focus on maximizing your potential! There will always be faster and more talented runners out there ...

Ross said...

There is no such thing as a mediocre finish at Sawtooth. All finishes are extraordinary. I will continue to believe that at least until I have been able to do it myself.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Maybe, like Cool Hand Luke, you need to spend a night in the box to get your mind right.


As I recall, it worked for him.

Anonymous said...

I would have to agree with Ross. There is no such thing as a mediocre finish. With 40,000 feet of elevation change over a 102.6 miles I would think of it more as mountain climbing. Also I don't believe John Horns is anywhere near a sub 6 min/mile Marathoner. I'm not seeing any comparison at at all between road Marathon times and Sawtooth times?? The whole Voyageur times 3 seems to be fairly true, but I think road marathons are almost a different sport.

SteveQ said...

@Anon.: Horns is an exception (we're the same age; he ran a marathon in - I think - 2:28 - about 1985, when I was probably in that shape, but only managed 2:42). Peterson's run in the low 2:30's, as has Davis and Andrish. It's hard to find a marathon time for Gardner, but I think he's in that group.

Oddly, as Voyageurx3=Sawtooth, Marathonx3=Voyageur as a first approximation.