Welcome! Glad you made it! And if you follow me, right this way; oh, after you. We’re almost there. How was the trip? And through this hallway, you’ll hear a chorus of Disney Princesses greeting you:
Across the way, you’ll see a plaque dedicated to the founder of modern distance running, Emil Zatopek.
"When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical.”
Finally, if you can just squeak your way past Demetri Martin without rousing him… Oops—“Hello. I am Demetri Martin. Sometimes it looks like I’m dancing, but it’s just that I walked into a spiderweb.”—Quickly, now! To the door! OK, we’ve made it.
HOMEMADE RUNNING SPECTACULAR
A Brief History
Last June, I qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials in the marathon by virtue of running 64:56 (4:57 pace) at the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. Now in my tenth year of being a distance runner, I am going to train with maximum effort for the Olympic Trials.
Theme Stated
This blog is an attempt to document my preparation in a way that resonates with other endeavors and is fun to read for family, friends, fans of the sport, blog enthusiasts, friends of friends, friends of family friends, fans of friends, friend enthusiasts, friends’ blogs of sports enthusiasts, and the richest man in the world.
And now some questions from readers out there wondering what this is all about:
Charlie X from Williamsburg, Virginia, would like to know, “My friend and I just bought matching backpacks!?” CG from Cambridge, Massachusetts, asks, “Why do you like to run?” Ch. F. Gill from Chicago, Illinois, asks, “What’s a good 5k training plan for someone just starting out?” Great questions, readers. These will be answered all in good time.
Finally, George Clooney, from Los Angeles, California, wonders aloud, “Chas, can you please stop calling my house? I don’t know how you got the number, but, like I’ve already told you, I read the script you gave me—‘Ocean’s Eleven Four: There is No Heist; It’s Just Chas and the Cloon Dog Kickin’ It. Co-Starring the Very Flexible Small Guy, but He Mostly Just Stays in His Box During This One’—and I was not impressed. It was really bad. Just, really, just terrible, like, the worst thing I’ve read. Either revise it, destroy it, or stop calling me. Either way, can you please just leave us alone?” Ah, Mr. Clooney. Great question! I’ll have to think about it and get back to you.
A Brief History Part 2: The Ironic Sequel
The half marathon was in June, so what have I been up to in training since then?
I kept training through the beginning of July; I took July 7th to 13th off from running. Then, concisely:
Sunday, July 17-July 23: 60 miles. Long run of ten miles. All pretty easy running.
July 24-30: 67 miles. Long run of 12 miles. All pretty easy.
July 31-August 6: 63.5 miles. 14 mile long run.
August 7-13: 63.5 miles, mostly in Colorado. 13 mile long run.
August 14-20: 70 miles. 14 mile long run. Some faster days, but mostly easy. We’re almost at the present day, people! Just hold on.
August 21-27: 80.5 miles. 16 mile long run. First legitimate workout—a four mile progression run with splits of 5:50, 5:38, 5:29, 5:14—on the Wednesday.
Ah, now to current training. I’m in Cambridge and getting into the routine of hard training. Last week:
Sunday 8/28: 16.5 miles. 1 hour 50 minutes. There was a hurricane occurring at this time. Ran anyway. About 6:40s for most of it. A bit faster when frightened of falling branches. And perhaps 5:40s the last mile or two. At the Middlesex Fells for about half of it, which is a big forest preserve/system of reservoirs near Tufts.
Monday: AM 5.5 miles easy, 36 minutes. PM 10 miles easy, 69 minutes at Fresh Pond, which is a reservoir with a 2.5 mile running path/dogs off leash aimlessly wandering in front of you while kids on trikes smile at their excellent pedaling technique (which ain’t so excellent if you ask me) place.
Tuesday: Workout. 11 mile progression run. First three miles at warmup pace, then 6:00 pace for a bit, then 5:45s for a bit, then 5:30s, then last mile in 5:08 on the track. These paces are estimates. 1 mile cooldown easy. Very pleased I could do this comfortably.
Wednesday: AM 10 miles, 71 minutes on the river. Felt ok, a bit tired and feet a bit tired. I’ve been walking a lot this past week. PM 6 miles, very, very easy on the river.
Thursday: I’m ahead of where I should be in terms of mileage, so a light day. 7.5 miles, 52 minutes. Felt fine.
Friday: Workout. Warmed up to Fresh Pond. Then 18x1 minute fast, 1 minute moderate. Average pace around 5:50/mile. Fast portions around 5:00 pace, slower portions around 6:40 pace (estimate). Felt fairly comfortable throughout. Only my third workout, and it was good to get the legs going at 5:00 pace.
Saturday: 6 miles. 42 minutes. Easy. On the river.
Week in Review
88.5 miles. 2 modest workouts. Long run 16.5 miles.
The best Yoko Ono tweet I saw during this time:
Dangle empty cans and bottles all over your body. Dance without making a sound.
NPR quote of the week:
“Up next we have a conversation between two lutes.”
-Morning Edition
Enjoy!
Funny stuff, good work. Keep working at the training and the script.
ReplyDeleteGood going, Chas. Definitely looking forward to hearing more about your journey.
ReplyDeleteWhy do villains always whistle when they're sneaking up on someone? Is that a wise decision?
ReplyDeleteJ stroke? Stroke of G, if you ask me!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome Chas. But do you ever think of me while you're running? My musk?
ReplyDelete-Kermit the frog the puppet
This made my day, nay, my week (which week?)... but the people want to know: will Clooney make an appearance at the Blog Release Party?
ReplyDelete- the people
Replies from the author, starting with the earliest:
ReplyDelete-Thanks.
-Great.
-Restless Whistling Syndrome.
-OK, yeah.
-Yes, of course, but I feared it was unrequited.
-Hard to say. I'm kind of on the outs with GC right now (see above), but maybe he can be somebody's plus one in a semi-coerced date situation? Somebody should get on that.