November 15, 2007

Thursday, November 15, 2007

I looked up some old results coolrunning.com

18:34 in 1998, just before turning 40. I remember planning for a strong start in masters races, and then stopping training. Next result, 26+ in 1999. This was in NY, then I was in VA for a couple years. From 1998 to 2002 I did no training, and led a very unhealthy, stressful lifestyle. Things fell apart, and I returned to NH in 2002. I ditched the unhealthy (lawyer) life and returned to coaching. I’ve done some training, and some half-ass racing (~21 5k), but mainly concentrated on coaching. Now I’m finally back in the north country and have a job I enjoy and a nice place to live. Life is good.

But I’m frustrated. For the second year, I haven’t coached cross country. There’s no middle school xc program, no indoor track program at all, a moribund hs xc program with a legacy coach, and a track team without a track. I coach track. This is a community which could be a state power in cross country and track, but without year round training opportunities, it takes a truly exceptional and self-motivated athlete to succeed as a distance runner. It hurts to see so many middle school runners without a sport in the fall. What hurts most is that coaching cross country is probably what I do best. Argghh.

It was raining all day, but not too cold, maybe 45-50 degrees. As I was about to step out the door to run, my son called from college. It was nearly dark when we got off the phone, but I’ve got a reflective vest and I’m not embarrassed to wear it. It was a very pleasant run; I do so like the rain and the cool weather. I’ve got to be careful about the watch. I’d wind up hammering myself on every run if left to my own devices. Determined to keep this run easy, I made a point to maintain a 3/2 breathing pattern the whole way, and not to look at the watch (though I did take the splits for later). The only exception was on the steepest portion of the steepest hill, where I got into a 2/2 pattern. My experience is that this (3/2) correlates to about 75% VO2max. Much nicer than yesterday! No aches or pains or twinges. In fact, for portions of today’s run I actually felt like a runner! 9:20, 8:27, 8:30 (26:17), 27:11, 28:05.

Morning HR – 52 (amazing how persistent the positive effects of distance training are)