Saturday, January 29, 2011

Pudding

ORN:  18.4 miles, 3:29:45, 11:24/mile, R4/W1

Well, there are three weeks remaining until the Austin Marathon.  So that must mean that today's outing must be my last long run and now I am in the Official Taper.  

It was hardly an auspicious "climax" to a marathon training program.  But, now that I'm stacking these races closer together, I think the build-up is not nearly the same as running a single target event each year.  

The run was some combination of The Shirelles' "Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This" and Winston Churchill's famous retort "this pudding has no theme."  While I got through it, it was no fun.  Around mile 8, I started feeling some stiffness in my hips and thighs.  Stretching really didn't help all that much.  I never really felt in rhythm and never found any flow.   I suspect the residual fatigue from running 50K 3 weeks ago explains all of this.  

With the plan for the spring, which has a marathon every five weeks, I'm thinking each race serves as the "long run" for the next one.  And if my biggest problem is a themeless long run, I'm a really lucky guy!!

Persevere.


.




3 comments:

Darrell said...

I say save the climatic stuff for race day.

Your juxtaposition of pop music oldies and statesman cracks me up. The mind does goes some crazy places on a long run.

Wes said...

I love pudding. That's where my mind goes... :-)

Sarah said...

I like that training method....using the race as the long run for the next race. I agree with Darrell, climaxes are best saved for the race. You'll do great!