Ferdinand

I still exist.

I just haven't been running too much. Work has forced me into a long lay off w/ about 8 weeks in inhospitable for running conditions and weather. Then more travel that was not conducive to running. I've tried over the past two or three weeks even did a race this weekend. Considering how much I've been running, I really can't complain too much.

I do have 'A Plan.'

I have 3 more races this summer. I have no expectation of doing any better on them than I did last year when I ran the same ones.

Yesterday, I did what was supposed to be a 4ish mile run. I went with one of my normal running partners. Unfortunately, neither of us had been on this route for a while. So our 4ish mile run became about 10k (9.8 if you're counting).

The profile is below. It was good and hilly. And my legs are tired.

And here's the profile for the race from Saturday. You may remember from last year, this race was longer...

(not as cool as last year, eh?)

I (would have) Love(d) Paris in the Spring Time

Well, it was probably inevitable. Work has gotten in the way of the rest of my life. As I almost predicted in this post Paris is off.

I'll be away for six weeks to a locale that does not support the runs I'll need (think: climate and safety...not necessarily in that order). Since Paris would have been my first marathon, I'm not willing to go into it without doing the requisite training.

It's all a bit disappointing really. I'm going to do some shorter runs/ races in this area after I get back, and try again for the late summer/ early fall time period. Hopefully, things will be better then. As the saying goes: Hope is not a course of action.

Refreshin news

This story just restored some of my faith in the educational process. Odds of something similar happening in the U.S.?

My favorite quote:

"It's all down to the approach. You can bore people of any age with the wrong approach and you can enthuse people of any age with the correct one."

Long Run after lay-off

Twelve miles yesterday. I'm not sure I've gone about this in a smart manner. I need to be a bit more intelligent and thoughtful about how I'm running.

As expected, I got one of my three programmed runs in last week. I was away the first portion, and just not in a good spot to run. Where the lack of smarts comes in is the week before. The previous week was a recovery week: three short easy runs. Last week was a mileage building week: long run (12 miles-which I accomplished), a tempo run (6 miles) and a short easy run (2 miles). If I'd been a thinking man, I would have run last weeks program two weeks ago, and used the travel week as the recovery week, thereby not missing the speed work. I'll need to keep this in mind.

As for yesterday's run, it went as well as could be expected. I didn't quite hit the goal pace (12 miles at 10:04-I did 12.1 at 10:34. I think, looking at the graph it was the end that really did me in. I felt slow during the last 2 miles or so. Just like I had to keep pushing the pace to get anywhere. (The fact that it was almost all uphill probably didn't help matters much.)

As you might discern from above, I'm not too happy with the run from yesterday. My legs are still quite sore. I'm hoping it's due to the one week layoff.

It was busy out there yesterday. In and around a park area there was significant traffic on the foot paths. Everyone from kids in strollers up to people so old I was surprised they could still get around and walk. The down side was, I had to wait to pass people sometimes. It was also very muddy (but luckily not icy). This is probably related to the fact that I ran in mid-afternoon, instead of early morning.

On the Paris front: I am now in possession of my medical certificate. That means the only thing between me and Paris is training.

Easy Run - Rougher Near Term

I did a nice easy 6 miles today. The weather was warmer than it has been for a while. But, to be honest, I could have cross country skied out there today. It wasn't too icy though, so I again managed to stay upright.

This was an easy week. The miles start to pick up again next week. And on that note:

Tomorrow starts the rough part of my Paris Marathon preps. I'll be gone for a few days this week, and it only gets worse from here until March. I'll have to make a large effort to get the miles in.

On another note, you'll soon be reading in these pages how I've gotten hopelessly lost while out running. I've taken to just running on the trails that suit me at the moment. Today I ended up fording a mostly fozen stream, before climbing a snow crusted, pathless hill to find another trail to run on. Much fun.