Striding Through

A few weeks ago I saw an article that asked why the 76-year old Springsteen is carrying the most powerful musical argument against this dictatorial presidency, while other bankable left-leaning artists like Taylor Swift have been so quiet. Maybe it’s because Bruce is a legend whose star will always shine brightly, someone who will be remembered fondly when he is gone, unlike someone else. and maybe at 76 he is just out of fucks to give for these morons. In any case, he delivered last night. Every song in the set list was part of a collective story - of resistance, resilience and a belief that we hold the key to once again advocating for justice and finding our own joy in being Americans. This country has many flaws; it always has. We have many injustices to undo. But the potential exists to build a better country that acknowledges and then leaves our sins behind. As The Boss sings, “I believe in the promised land.”

I finally got to race day yesterday and it was a tough one. I did the best I could to train for this event, a mountain road half marathon that started at 7800 feet and finished at about 4300. My training really was a typical half marathon plan, with some downhills thrown in when I could add them.

As it turns out, that was woefully inadequate for this day’s course. You just can’t emulate the elevation or even the grade of Utah mountains in Virginia, not even in the Shenandoahs.

I didn’t have a particular time goal for this, and I just decided to see what the day holds. But I also knew from training about where I should have been, which was somewhere in the 1:50s. That pacing lasted until 8 miles, when the constant downhill pounding simply overwhelmed me. First the quads started to hurt. Then the hips. Then the hamstring felt like it was about to pull. My “run” slowed to a shuffle and I bled time away with every tiny step. I staggered across the line in 2:17.

I did the capstone long run for my race in 2 weeks today. The plan called for 8 miles at easy effort, followed by 4 miles at half marathon goal pace. I felt really good the entire way and got through 12 miles in 1:57. I added on a slow crawling cooldown after that just to get to 13.1 and pick up the Strava half marathon badge. I didn’t quite hit the goal pace target on the 4-mile segment but I also had several stoplights that slowed my momentum. When I finally got onto the quieter streets of my neighborhood I was able to hit it.

Been a while since my last post but the work has continued. I have 3 weeks until race day and I feel like things are starting to come together. The workouts have upped in intensity but even when I’m feeling tired I have been able to meet the challenge of the next session.

As for today, I had 4-6 x 1200 repeats plus 3 x 200 on tap, and it was nearly 90°. I started conservatively on the 1200s and let myself acclimate to the conditions. I figured I could get 4 x 1200 in for sure, but did I have enough in the tank for 5? It turns out I did. As soon as I finished the 4th I told myself, “let’s do one more.” And that 5th rep ended being my fastest one.

I didn’t think my paces were super-fast. But a couple of folks at the track complimented me on my running which felt pretty cool. A soccer coach working with his team on the turf said I was cooking and the school security guard called me “Superman,” lol.

I sometimes lament that I am older and slower now, but I guess I still have a little juice. In any case it is nice to get some unsolicited support like that.

Sometimes life forces you to make constant adaptations. For example, this past weekend, I had to postpone - mind you, not cancel - the Sunday long run. That meant I was slipping out tonight to get the run done. And of course, because it’s a weeknight, I did not have the time to run 13-14 miles. So I decided ”OK let’s just run faster. I started out at threshold effort (4 miles), then pushed it to HM effort. The results were pretty solid overall. At 6.56 miles, I basically had done 6.56 miles, basically a half a half marathon. By the end of it I was going at sub-9 miles pace. Ran 1:01 for the whole thing and felt like I still had at least another gear in reserve. I’m calling it a win on the night. 6 weeks to go.