Feelin' Good -n- Guilty
Before I address the title, let's see who those mysterious runners were as showcased by my northern neighbor. Ahem, a more traditional view:
Ah yes, Jonathan, me, Steph & Mike. We are about to embark on an easy 16 miler with the first 2.3 miles dead into a biting wind blowing off a frozen lake. But hey, it got better after we made the first turn. The wind found us again at mile 9 but by then we were running in formation like a flock of geese. We flapped past two barking Rotweillers, a hound dog, and we dove into the ditch to avoid a racing car driven by a teenager who was just as surprised to see us as we were to see him (if that makes it any better). Other than that, besides trying to keep up with Mike's downhill "Boston surges" we ambled along nicely. Next week: 20.
But, to my title. The trouble is.... I'm feeling good. A spring in my step, getting enough sleep, feeling energized. That's a problem because the reason is.... low mileage! As no good deed goes unpunished, so shall no good feeling be of worthy origin. I have inadvertently extended my sympathy taper to anonymously support anyone running anywhere any distance. Such is my January story. You can check my archives, I'm not much of a January runner.
But... there is silver in these linings. Generally, I usually contract a bad case of the January blues. Running ceases and I attempt to hibernate my life away as I imagine myself getting slow and fat. I snap out of it once the weather breaks and pour on the training in time for a Spring marathon whose time closely resembles the previous Autumn marathon time. Now things are different. First, the weather hasn't been bad. Secondly, I have been concentrating on putting more quality into my workouts (warmup, cooldown, running at correct paces etc.). And finally, I'm not dealing with a major injury. (I had a bugger of a quad injury the end of '04).
So.... after building up some very high mileage in December, I have cut back and am starting a more conservative buildup process that includes better quality workouts than mere shuffling. My HR monitor is coming in handy with this goal. Running at target heart rate ranges is keeping me motivated, honest, and on track. The low miles (42, 32, 38 for the past 3 weeks) aren't quite what I wanted but it's what I got. They were, however, run at the proper pace and all miles run with a specific purpose in mind.
Now to merge quality with quantity and I'll be on my way.
Ah yes, Jonathan, me, Steph & Mike. We are about to embark on an easy 16 miler with the first 2.3 miles dead into a biting wind blowing off a frozen lake. But hey, it got better after we made the first turn. The wind found us again at mile 9 but by then we were running in formation like a flock of geese. We flapped past two barking Rotweillers, a hound dog, and we dove into the ditch to avoid a racing car driven by a teenager who was just as surprised to see us as we were to see him (if that makes it any better). Other than that, besides trying to keep up with Mike's downhill "Boston surges" we ambled along nicely. Next week: 20.
But, to my title. The trouble is.... I'm feeling good. A spring in my step, getting enough sleep, feeling energized. That's a problem because the reason is.... low mileage! As no good deed goes unpunished, so shall no good feeling be of worthy origin. I have inadvertently extended my sympathy taper to anonymously support anyone running anywhere any distance. Such is my January story. You can check my archives, I'm not much of a January runner.
But... there is silver in these linings. Generally, I usually contract a bad case of the January blues. Running ceases and I attempt to hibernate my life away as I imagine myself getting slow and fat. I snap out of it once the weather breaks and pour on the training in time for a Spring marathon whose time closely resembles the previous Autumn marathon time. Now things are different. First, the weather hasn't been bad. Secondly, I have been concentrating on putting more quality into my workouts (warmup, cooldown, running at correct paces etc.). And finally, I'm not dealing with a major injury. (I had a bugger of a quad injury the end of '04).
So.... after building up some very high mileage in December, I have cut back and am starting a more conservative buildup process that includes better quality workouts than mere shuffling. My HR monitor is coming in handy with this goal. Running at target heart rate ranges is keeping me motivated, honest, and on track. The low miles (42, 32, 38 for the past 3 weeks) aren't quite what I wanted but it's what I got. They were, however, run at the proper pace and all miles run with a specific purpose in mind.
Now to merge quality with quantity and I'll be on my way.
posted by Andrew at 7:54 PM
2 Comments:
Oh yes, and only 3 cars over the 13.5 mile loop! Great run Andrew but I have no idea what I'm trying to tell the camera...
"Traditional view" would depend of course whether you were running in front or running behind. Mike's view is pretty much what I see when I run...lol.
I've been doing some workouts using the HR monitor and have seen improvement. Like you I am finding it a handy tool.
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