Last thoughts, the last week

I felt good last Sunday morning when I woke up.  I felt rested.   I’d had three days of full rest this week.  I lay in bed, flexed my feet towards my knees and contracted my quads and all my leg muscles tightly.  The contraction was quick and strong and the muscles felt taught and ready, not mushy and slow.  It’s almost a reflex to do this when I wake up and seems to be a good indicator of my legs’ recovery.  My body seemed like it wanted to run.  My mind thought it could go along with that idea.

Dave and I drove to the Thomas Creek trail head for the Dry Pond Loop.  There were lots of people out on the trail enjoying the beautiful fall afternoon.  We negotiated around mountain bike riders, hikers with dogs and lots of kids.  This is a run with almost 2000 feet of climbing in the first two and half miles so I wanted to take it slow and not get my heart rate too high where I’d be anaerobic.  By the end of the first mile, I was warmed up and the climb seemed fairly easy.  I walked a few feet of the really steep sections – there are three of them.  Despite my efforts to keep the pace down, we arrived at the top in record time much to my amazement.  I was surprised.  My perceived exertion rate was only 5 or 6.   The time didn’t match my effort.  I guess the rest this past week did some good!

The run down was fast yet controlled.  We sailed through the woods and my body felt light and free! What a wonderful feeling to run this fast again!   It had been weeks since I ran fast!

Sunday was the last day of my training “week”, and like any obsessed runner, I added up my miles to see where I was at.  It came to almost 29 miles including the day’s run.  It was no surprise that I felt so fresh. 

Monday morning came and I read an article about training and recovery by Phil Maffetone – “The training schedule, balancing the catabolic and anabolic body”.  The article talks about the uniqueness of each athlete’s needs and how training should be designed accordingly.  A central theme of Maffetone’s article and approach to training is about rest and how important it is to body sense and adjust training regimens.  Cookie cutter training schedules need to be used with a grain of salt.  For example, mileage may not be as important as the time spent training.  Cutting back on time spent running as opposed to mileage should be as much a consideration during a taper.  Listening to your body’s response to training and not ignoring red flags of overtraining is essential.

As I reviewed my training log, I realized that time spent training was something that was more appropriate for my taper than miles because I was running so slowly.  Even though my mileage seemed to be drastically decreased over the last two weeks, the time spent training on my feet now seemed reasonable for the taper.  I had spent half the time running as I did the week before.  I remembered that when I trained for events in my 30’s I rarely looked at my miles run each week. Back then, time on my feet was a much better indicator of my fitness and ability to tolerate long runs.  And now, my age had not changed what my body knew best.

Monday’s combined walk with easy running around the neighborhood was relaxing.  As I finished the easy workout, my iPod started to play two of my favorite songs – “Sweet Emotion” and “Solsbury Hill”.  I danced on the porch and let my body move to the music, at first tentatively, then freely and uninhibited.  Cars drove by and I didn’t care how silly I might have looked.  I realized how lucky I am to have this tremendous feeling of health and well being in my body!

Tuesday’s rest day felt right.  By Wednesday, I was restless and felt uneasy with the feeling of a growing anxiety about my preparedness.  I decided that I needed to run at least 30 to 45 minutes and do whatever felt right.  I chose a relatively flat four mile run around the neighborhood on pavement.  It was quick, but not pushed.  My perceived exertion was only a 5 or so on a scale of 1 to 10.  The run was reassuring.  My fitness was there, I need not worry about it.

Today is Thursday.  I will not run again until Saturday.  I’ll admit that I’m nervous and a little scared about this.  My longest events have been 10 to 11 hours – two Ironmans and several double century bike rides, but those were 30 years ago.  This would be 11 to 12 hours on my feet in a race, not a training run or as a pacer, but as an older adult who wants to prove it’s possible to be fit, healthy and enjoy a long run.

Tomorrow, I'll drive down to Auburn with my best training buddy, Ron, his wife Carol, and another runner.  We'll pick up our race packets, do some pasta at The Spaghetti Factory and visit the Nike Outlet store in Folsom.  It will be good to spend the day with friends - keep me out of my head.  Dave will drive down later and meet me at the hotel in Auburn which is only 4 miles from the start. 

I’ll let you know how it turned out next week.