Slowing Down
Yesterday I decided to run a leisurely 8-mile fartlek, mostly around the reservoir. This did not come off as planned. The reservoir track was soggy with slush and mud. So I took a series of alternate routes, on the paved road and horse trails, pausing after ninety minutes to pick up my number from NYRRC on 89th Street. Then back to the park and another leisurely two miles, then back home. Felt great. I calculated I’d run somewhere between 12 and 13 miles in the course of two hours. But alas! It was too wearing on me, and when I ran the Pfizer 4-mile race today I clocked a shabby 8:05 pace. Which I would have thought quite wonderful a few weeks ago, but now I realize I was made for better things. In spite of running gently and stretching afterwards, I was just too stiff to make a full-out effort. And I was stiff in places I’d never been stiff before—upper thighs and glutes. What is this all about?
March 15th, 2005 at 6:44 pm
I’d urge you to become a temporary non-smoker, if only for spiritual reasons. You’ve given the resolve expression more than once; to hedge or temporize at this point must (if you’re like me) inevitably lower your self-esteem, and that must, in turn, affect your performance in the Paris Marathon. When you take your place at the starting line, you should be mens sanissima in corpore sanissimo, if that’s how you decline it.
April 21st, 2005 at 11:48 am
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