10/20/09
Tuesday
I spent most of the spring and a good part of the summer running track on Tuesdays. The speed workouts were difficult and It was quite tiring, yet I felt accomplished after. I honestly did not notice a difference in my trail racing performance and my road races were mediocre at best.
Near the end of the summer I started speed workouts on the trails. I think that helped more than track but still not a huge improvement. It seems I should re-think my training for next spring. I just am not sure what I need to do to bring back my lost speed. I'm not sure, but it appears training slow for the 50k has changed me.
I ran at Pineland and honestly felt like slow poke Rodriguez. It was a tempo run and I felt like I was pushing but no exciting results. I did enjoy the run and I felt like I worked quite hard .......I just had no speed.
I think I am lacking focus for what type of running (racing) I really want to be doing. perhaps it is time to take a break to just run for fun for a while and let my goals come to me rather than chasing them.
It is only October but I am already stressing about the hunters in the woods. I guess I have no trust in people anymore. Even though I ran at Pineland (where there is no hunting) I became nervous after I heard gun fire near by.
Now, I know that they can only use bows right now and gun fire probably means practice shooting, but when I heard the shots, an image of Homer Simson flashed into my head. I think there are a lot of "Homers" out there hunting nowadays.
The next thing that flashed into my head was the thought of my white hair and how it might resemble the white tail of a deer as I am running through the woods....think I should wear a hat till the end of November?
I am sure an arrow or bullet through the side of my head would slow down my running quite a bit. I am seriously thinking about singing loudly while I am running trails. Of course then people would think there was an injured animal close by and I would probably attract more attention than I want or they would shoot anyway to put the poor animal out of it's misery!
Recent runs:
Monday
2.5 miles (road)with Mrs. Pathfinder
28:48 (11:31 pace)
Tuesday
Pineland trails
3.5 miles @32:17 Tempo(9:14 pace)
splits:
9:40...145-163
8:52...151-157
8:54...151-159
8:42...157-161 (kick@8:02)
1.75 miles @18:52 easy/cooldown (10:46 pace)
Mrs. Pathfinder ran by herself on her 2.5 loop.
3 comments:
I also get very nervous during hunting season. If I hear anyone in the vicinity while I'm in the woods, I do sing and talk very loudly. Better to be thought of as weird than get shot.
I never really thought about hunters in the woods before but I understand why you would be concerned. The 3-4 places I usually run don't allow hunting. I guess I'm lucky. I only have to worry about falling down and hurting myself~!
I used to run alot in southern VT and never felt unsafe during hunting season. Deer season is the most popular and even then the folks out in the woods usually are well away from any traveled paths, they try to keep an open sight and usually sit in one spot for hours at a time. Contrary to popular belief they're not a bunch of drunk rednencks who shoot the first thing that moves. I also hunted those same woods and I don't think I ever saw another soul. It is best to wear safety orange, but all in all I don't think the woods, and especially the trails, are as dangerous as some think this time of year.
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