dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

after my ordeal on Saturday, I decided to take an extra day off to make sure that my system has time to recharge.  I am not sore at all, as physically I didn't really pound my body, but I am worried that I may have stressed my nervous system a bit too much, so I figured a lazy day was in order.

I ran to school this morning.  I ran a few sprints on the way, although I am not sure if you can call them sprints as they weren't very fast.  Total of 7 pick ups of 15-20 seconds each, simply to get the legs moving while trying to feel relaxed.  I was supposed to run home in the evening, but I was at school late getting a presentation ready for class tomorrow morning, so Kimia picked me up.  I figure that it is not too big of a deal, as this week will already have low mileage due to not running yesterday.

I ran to school this morning, and then ran to class after getting here because I was slow getting ready, and I didn't want to be late.  Total of 9 miles.  I ran 2 x "400" repeats on the way, simply to get my legs moving a little.  I was not trying to push the pace, and it was windy like always, so times were slow (1:18, 1:17).

PM:  I ran most of the way home, and met Kimia at the store a little ways from our house.  6.9 miles total in 53:16.  I felt very smooth while running. 

I ran to school this morning.  I ran a "half mile" at marathon pace during the run just to get a feel for pace during the marathon, and to try and stay relaxed.  It was windy as always, and the distance is approximate, so times don't mean much, but I wanted to go no faster than 2:40, and with the wind I thought 2:45-2:50 was more appropriate.  I also didn't want to artificially inflate my time by looking at my watch midway and then speeding up if it looked like I was running too slow, so I did not look at it until I finished.  I felt very relaxed, and ended up running a 2:47, which made me happy.  In fact I felt very positive about things this morning.  Part of it comes from a running quote my dad sent me yesterday, but also because I was thinking and Ether 12 came to mind where it says:

"I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." (v.6)

"For if their be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith." (v.12)

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make the weak things become strong unto them." (v.27)

These words give me so much comfort.  I know that an OTQ time is within my reach.  I know that I have put in the work, and that by the grace of God I can run under 2:19:00 in a few weeks, but I must show my faith first, as it is not until after the trial of my faith that miracles will happen.  Now, I do not want to appear arrogant and proclaim that I have the faith, thus I will run an OTQ.  Nor do I want to trivialize the things of God and assume that it is in his best interest to aid my running performance, thus helping me to run an OTQ, as I know that spiritual things spoken of scripturally and temporal things are in decidedly different realms.  Nevertheless, these words bring comfort to my mind, as recently I have been weighed down with worries and mind games, wondering if I can really run an OTQ.  My mindset will be different in these coming weeks because of this, as I truly feel that if I do qualify for the Olympic Trials that it will be through the grace and aid of the Almighty, and I need to have the faith to allow that to happen.

PM: I ran home from school in 1:03:17.

Just an easy run this morning out on the Pittman wash.  1:16:42 for 10 miles

Long run this morning.  I was finally able to get a long tempo run in (10 miles) for the first time in quite a while.  I got up, and it was already 70+ degrees outside, but it didn't feel to bad.  Nevertheless, I decided that to be safe I needed to do my tempo early in my run rather than waiting until the second half when I would already be dehydrated and hot.  I warmed up for about 1.25 miles, and started the tempo at the 4 mile marker on the Pittman wash.  The majority of the way out on this tempo is uphill, so things were decidedly slower until I hit the turn-around.  There were also a fair number of twists, turns, and underpasses, which slowed me down irregardless of the direction I was heading.  All in all, I think that the downhill miles may together have been marginally faster than what I would find on flat, straight ground, while the uphill miles were considerably slower.

Anyhow, I decided to not push the pace too hard at the beginning in order to give myself a mile or so to decide how hard to run going uphill.  Splits were 6:01, 5:48 for the first 2 miles.  The first mile has the most uphill, but the second mile is probably equally slow due to lots of twists and turns, plus a bigger underpass than in the first mile.  Missed the split at mile 3, but the split at the turn-around for mile 4 was 11:32 (5:46 average, 23:21 for the first 4 miles).  Those 2 miles are definitely faster than the previous 2, with the 4th mile having only a mild uphill, and being flat for the second half mile, but for some reason I just relaxed and didn't speed up at all until after the turn-around.  Mile 5 was a 5:17 as I realized that I had been running too easy when I sped up to pass some trail construction and I still felt like I was barely working despite the increase in pace (28:38 for 5 miles).  I missed the 6 mile marker, but hit a two mile split of 10:50 at 7 miles (5:25 average, these miles are probably slower than flat miles despite the downhill due to underpasses, sharp turns, etc), followed by an 8 mile split of 5:11 (this one surprised me, but I think the downhill helped me a bit more this mile, despite another underpass, as the downhill is steeper).  Another turn-around followed at the end of this mile, and the last 2 miles were uphill again (the same stretch as the first 2 miles).  I hit these 2 miles in 5:48, 5:48 (27:37 for the second 5 miles, 56:15 total for 10 miles).

It was good to know that the same effort that got me an average pace of just under 5:20 for 4 miles mid tempo was the effort that got me the 5:48 miles at the beginning and end of the tempo, as it validated for me how slow the uphill makes those miles.  I was also glad that I felt as good as I did despite the warm weather (again), as it was 70 degrees when I started, and I imagine that temps were over 80 by the time I finished the run (the high for today was 93).  After the tempo I ran to a water fountain to get a drink, then ran to the high school so that I could get a drink there too (better water).  I was now at about 14.5 miles, so I ran 2.75 miles back out the way I came before turning around to head for home.  The same mile I hit a 5:11 on at the end of the tempo began a half mile after I started heading for home, and I ran a "fat" mile here in 5:39.  I was really just cruising, probably about a 5:50 effort on flat ground, but that was all I was shooting for anyhow.  I made it home to finish up 20 miles total in 2:09:XX.  It was good to finally get in one last long tempo before the marathon in three weeks in Indianapolis.  This was a good confidence boost for me.