speedwork on a warm spring day gets me thinking

[marathoner452]

I ran 8 by 200 meters this morning in a cumulative 6:07, with 2 minute rest breaks between the repeats. The last time I did that workout with the Flying Feet I did a cumulative 6:27, so I've definitely gotten faster, the 3 1/2 weeks of nola-induced not running notwithstanding. I think I have a definite shot at running the Main Street Mile in 6:30, possibly even faster. We shall see. I'm not going to set any goals, just run as fast as I can until I reach the finish line.

I think I like the shorter faster stuff better than marathons at this point. Speedwork is a lot of fun and takes a lot less time than long runs. Shorter races are a lot cheaper than marathons or even half marathons. You hurt for a lot less time in a 5k or 10k. You recover a lot more quickly. Plus, if something doesn't go quite right on race day, you can try again next weekend. Besides, they fit a lot better in my schedule at this point. I can be in the middle of training for a summer or fall 5k or 10k and if/when a hurricane blows up and I'm deployed and miss the race, so be it. When I get back I can find another one 6 weeks out and be just fine. The flexibility in my running would be really nice at this point in my life, and who knows how long this point in my life will last. I get the feeling it'll take awhile to get disaster relief out of my blood.

That's not to say I don't want to qualify for Boston at some point with that elusive 3:40 marathon. It's just not as big of a priority in my life as it was 8 months ago. (I think you all know what happened 8 months ago.)

~Bethany

Comments

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

Bravo, my dear--that's awesome progress. And you've got the right idea for what's going on. Though I want to run a 2:45 marathon this fall, I'm leaning towards focusing on my short game for a while. Get decent mileage in, but worry more about getting my base and strength rebuilt. I was in great shape overall when I ran 2:47 at Nationals, and I haven't been in that kind of shape since.

[meeshabpuck.livejournal.com]

wow chiquita ... so you now just in it for the endorphines and not to say that you are a marathon runner this year :-P

really impressed w/the introspection and stuff and dude, how hard is it to run a 5k?

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I'm going to find out just how hard it is to run a 5k. Yeah, I'm crazy like that but you seem to like me that way.

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

She isn't the only one. :-)

[yukonsally]

What's funny is that when I think of 8 months ago, I think of my wedding. (We took a cruise to the Carribean and had an extra day at sea because of Katrina. We chased her to the docks.)