April 16th, 2009 – Threshold 1 (Sort of)

Well, I finally discovered that I was willing to call it quits on a run.  My knees have been aching due to a variety of tendon aches and muscular pains, mostly from the 10.6 mph pace I’ve had to use to get into zone 4.  Today was too much.  I couldn’t do it and it killed me inside a little to say so, but I stopped running and shut it down.

Housekeeping:  31 minutes, 3.5 miles for a 9:01 per mile average, 317 calories burned.  Almost not worth blogging about in my mind.

Now, that being said, I did feel it important to write this one down.  So far, I’ve not stopped since my first 10K.  There had been nothing that would make me get off the treadmill and this time around it was telling.  My body no longer had the will.  Maybe that’s the wrong way to say it.  My body is not prepared for the stress my heart will allow.  How do I fix it?  I’m not really sure, frankly.  I know I’m going to have to do some serious preparation though to move beyond and really get to my half marathon target.  Only being able to do half the workout was a serious indicator that my running road races and this cardiac health program have some overlap, but they’re also in conflict with one another.  I don’t know how much faster I really need or want to run.  A 10.6 mph average for a 5K would allow me to finish right at about 18 minutes give or take.  I mostly gave up on the 5K because it is so much more a sprint in terms of long distance running, but I do know my goal was roughly 20 minutes, which averages out to between a 6:30 and 6:15.  Maybe I can do that already.  Maybe I no longer care.  For a 10K, my new goal is to finish below 42 minutes.  That means shaving another 13 seconds per mile average off my current personal record and I don’t know if that’s possible by the May race.  Even if it isn’t, I am not giving up on the 10K.  I consider it my distance and the one I plan to do most often moving forward.  I know at some point I will beat it and once I do, then all bets are off.

For now, I’m taking 4 days off again to allow my body to heal itself and then I’m only going to do 3 workouts while we’re in Mexico on vacation.  I may not even attempt one of the structured workouts and opt instead to just run on the open road on the island.  The entire roadway is only around 30 miles total. LOL

Once I get back, I’ve decided that I’m going to restructure my workouts around preparing for the half marathon.  I’ll move my strength training to dedicated days, and then run three times a week.  That will mean I need to add a day to the gym, but I think I’ll compromise by making one of the three runs a road run here in the neighborhood.  I need to mark off a 6.55 mile loop or something so I can actually run a half marathon on a road course.  Around here, that’ll be very challenging.

Cheers!