Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Mazungu

I've been anxious to write in here again since my last entry, as I don't like to have a negative vibe hanging around for long. Thanks for all of the positive encouragement that many of you sent my way.

The good news is that I'm feeling more myself now, and while I still have lingering congestion, its safe to say I'm no longer sick. In all, I missed 5 straight days of running, and my body got really worn down. I hopped back on the running on Saturday evening and I've not missed a day yet.

Unfortunately, I can tell that I'm a long way from 100%. I lost about 3 pounds when I was sick, and I've had a lot of muscle soreness and general slowness during my return. During my "speed" workout today I was unable to crack 6 minutes in three consecutive miles. 2 weeks ago I ran a workout with a 3-mile segment at about 5:40 pace, so I've clearly regressed considerably.

I still plan to race in Chico on Saturday, but my expectations are very low. I've been getting loads of sleep, and plan to continue to do so, so I hold out a small amount of hope that I'll somehow rebound completely by race day. But, in reality that is unlikely. I had hoped to feel spry at the lower elevation, and use the race as an announcement that my elevated training was a smashing success. Instead, I'll just put in a good effort, and if my legs are back I'll ride them. If not, that will have to wait a few more weeks for Boston.

I'm driving to Reno tomorrow in the afternoon, and spending the night in a casino (it won't be the same without you Jason), and in the morning I'll be heading to the airport to pick up Ashley and head to Chico. She is due for a good race as I know she's had some of the best training of her post-collegiate career.

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I really enjoyed this article from Running Times about a guy my age, who left the USA to train in Kenya. I've scanned it in below. Click on each page to see full-size.





3 comments:

Antoinette said...

Be good to yourself. Back to resting if you start feeling not so hot again.

Have a great weekend!

ashley said...

yeah! RENO!

ashley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.