Thursday 090811

The Journey was blasting in the Element this AM.  It was a good day when bands could pull this off….

The that is one bad arse mo’and fro’.  This guy looks like this today.

Doing “how time changes us” comparisons … I got my new license.  I like to think that I have not aged signficantly in ten years by looking at these photos from the current license and my last one.  Of course, I hide any grey hair.

I found this post outlining training variables interesting.  Different interesting post on breathing.

Seriously ‘effed up … ultra runners in a race get majorly burned as they get caught in wildfires.

PM – Got together with Bob S over at Davidson Mesa.  After a warm up (1.5 mi) we got to work.  2 x 7 minutes with the last 2 minutes of each interval faster than the prior five.  Good workout and after the second, I was feeling pretty buzzed in the legs.  I was glad to have got a workout in the bag and be done.

But then Bob told me that we were then doing 3 x 4 minutes with the last minute being at a harder pace.  WTF?  I thought I was done.  Of course I had read the workout that Bob had proposed in the email incorrectly.  Of course I protested.  Of course Bob told me tough tamales.  Of course I did the intervals.  And of course it hurt like hell.

Awesome.  The challenge with this workout is that you run at a pace that is good for the interval for the first part, but then accelerating to something faster in the last part.  Very different than hill running for sure.  Bob pretty much beat the crap out of me.  During the rests we debated short interval versus long.  And I had no less than three visits to the plastic phone booth to talk to a man about a dog.  The workout fried me from the waist down – my legs were not used to holding the sub six pace for that long. 

The biggest benefit of this workout was this however:  training with someone else.  It is all to easy for me to bag a workout, ease up on the pace, change the workout on the fly when on my own.  These are not options when training with someone else (or they are less likely to be options).  In fact, I thought today the workout was just two seven minute sessions.  I was ready to be done.  Bob, the pain in the ass I will add, would have none of it.  Bless him for that.

I hope to make this a regular outing.  11 miles total.