Tuesday, March 06, 2007

What's going on with ME?

This morning's 8-miler left me dumbfounded. I don't quite know what to think. What's gotten into me? I just don't know.

First of all let me clarify the graphic from yesterday's post. It may look hilly but it was by no means hilly in the tru sense of the word. Be sure to look at the scale on the side. Also, realize the the whole 3 miles was compressed to fit the X-axis so it looks more drastic than it really was. Plus, the accuracy of the Garmin on such a gentle slope is questionable. The only meaningful part of that graphic is that it sort of shows where the incline starts and how far it lasts until it levels off. That's all.

Now, on to this morning's run. Well, for the first time in a long time, I awoke with some motivation. No snooze. Up on the first alarm. I had a quick breakfast and headed out. I had 8 miles on the schedule for this morning and the weather was B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. I figured since I ran pretty hard last night that this would just be an easy, mid-long run at my LSD effort. After stretching, I took off and felt pretty good, pretty strong. I had an awesome run! Not a lot to say so I'll let the stats speak for themselves.

Total distance - 8.0 miles
Total time - 1:42:01
Splits - 13:47 / 13:22 / 12:48 / 12:34 / 12:33 / 12:25 / 12:37 / 11:52
Avg. pace - 12:45

That last mile was for you, coach. Very manly, huh?

So, this run has me perplexed. I just wonder why, after several weeks of slacking, lack of motivation, sore ankles, not feeling like getting up in the morning, putting on a few extra pounds, do I all of a sudden feel like a million bucks? It's like I'M BACK!!! What made the difference?

Is it possible that I'm just NOW starting to feel my oats after the marathon? Could it really take 7 weeks to recover from that beating? I wonder. Regardless, I'm feeling good and back it full training mode. No more hard running this week until Saturday's 17-miler. I'll sneak in an easy 4 miler tomorrow and maybe a 60-90 minute run on Thursday.

7 comments:

Pony and Petey said...

That's what's going on with me too! I was exhausted last week... no energy, wanting to eat and sleep all the time, gaining weight. But then something happened... I woke up one day feeling like I was back to my old self again and wanting to get out and run and run and run.

My shin's still speaking to me but at least the rest of me feels REALLY good = ) I guess it was something in the air???

Anonymous said...

Dude, your "back to the barn" pace on the last mile is getting awfully close to your mile PR. Maybe it's time to head back to the track for a mile time trial :-)

Steeeve

Anonymous said...

June is kicking your ass and you are feeling competitive again. Welcome back.

SteveS

Anonymous said...

Yes Vic it is possible that you are just geting your legs back from the marathon. I just last week felt myself getting back to form both physicly and mentaly. Glad that you are galloping again. Matt W.....

J~Mom said...

WOOHOO!!!!!!!! Looks awesome!!! So happy to have you back whatever it is!

TX Runner Mom said...

Wow! Great job! Don't question it, just go with it. :-)

IronWaddler said...

Great job and nice pace-you're right on track for the PIG