That was hard today

Posted by simon on 1/4/2007 on simon's blog

If it wasn't for the thought that Kyle is out there in some car park doing his 90 minutes, and Henry Rono is slogging up and down Copper Mountain in New Mexico, I'd have declared a rest day. But no...

Showing true grit (aka stupidity) I stumbled out into the ice and snow. Again.

You know when you get tired and irritable? It was that sort of a run. If I'd taken advantage of Colorado's concealed-carry laws it would have been a black day. Yes, the usual. People with dogs who think they're in a coffee shop. The people, not the dogs. No awareness of what's going on around them so that TWICE I had to take evading action and dive off the narrow ribbon of hard packed snow into the chin-high powder at the side, swim my way out and crawl back into running mode while cursing and spluttering. Not that they even noticed. I'm thinking of getting one of those automatic avalanche rescue bleepers, just in case.

Abby (my wife) says I must become "less British" in these situations. She tells me this involves declaring "Excuse me, may I pass through?" in a loud voice while some distance away. Less British? It sounds positively Shakespearian to me, but I get the general idea. Not that I have any confidence that the coffee-shop trail-natterers would hear me. But still.

Well, I think I was feeling the effects of the 10x100m we were scheduled to do after a 45-minute run plus drills yesterday. It was more than 10, but as I'd missed a week with flu, I decided to nurture myself. Those 100s were surprisingly achy-making.

So today, I wasn't in the mood at all. One of the many wise things that Bobby has said over the years was words to the effect that "A runner is always fighting the effects of acidity". I probably was still too acidic (ie not recovered) from yesterday's efforts, when the running seemed so easy.

OK, I've had enough snow now. Very nice. Lots of fun. You can take it all away now.

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2 comments

Kyle says:

Simon, thank you for identifying the reason for my somewhat lethargic state this week. I can now say I am having a difficult week because I am fighting the effects of acidicity. In addition, I think I am fighting the effects of way too much running on concrete, way too much running on snow-rutted roads, and way too many quick moves to avoid the people who should never have been issued a drivers license. It should be a mortal sin to drive with your dog on your lap, while talking on the cell phone, and drinking a Starbuck's high octane coffee on snow-packed rutted roads. When this piece of work almost made me a hood ornament I can't put in writing what I yelled.

Well, enough said. I am glad that you are feeling better and back on the roads and running. Whenever, I have a bout with illness I look at the positive side. The positive is that although I've caught the virus I was trying to avoid, I've had it, I've recovered, and now I can train with a stronger immune system and not worry about getting sick in the near future. At least this is my philosophy.

While I am being philisophical, let me say how happy I am that I accidentally ran into your blog this summer/fall that led me to the Magical Milers and Bobby McGee's training program. This first seven weeks of training under Bobby's program has been awesome. It has given me, as a runner of 30 years, a whole new perspective of how to really train smartly. I encourge anyone that reads this (and has a desire to take a step towards trying to maximize their running abilities) to find out more about Bobby's training expertise and the Magical Miler training program.

by Kyle (not verified) on Fri, 2007-01-05 04:20

simon says:

Ha ha! I'm glad it's not just me having a hard time out there :)

Yeah, the problem with the acidity thing is that you get to feel tired AND have disturbed sleep, so it can really grind you down. The best foods to counteract it are raisins and spinach. Plus plenty of fruit and juices, of course. I also use an alkalising supplement called pH Balance, which helps a lot.

Thanks for the way of looking at illness. You're right, and the other thing about it is I know that it has given me a bonus bit of rest time and, given that chance to heal without rushing things, I know I will come back stronger.

I remember when we were first talking about the sub-5 goal you said something along the lines of, "I'm at least as serious about this as you are". At the time I thought "Yeah, right!" Now I know better! I'm really impressed with the adaptations you are making and with your ability to do the program. Roll on August, eh?

* pH Balance is made by pH Sciences: for more info see their website www.phsciences.com

by simon on Fri, 2007-01-05 05:20