A Week with Ups and Downs!
Look at that – I made that blue.
Bad news first. Steve suffered an injury on Tuesday morning. We were nearly done with a very routine run, and in the last few steps, an old injury tried to happen again. He had a tear in his right calf years ago, and he now felt it pulling as if it was going to maybe tear again. I could tell it was painful…and frustrating. He hobbled home, went to the doctor, and determined it needed rest, ice, medication, etc. But mostly rest. He could barely walk on it.
So, that was a pretty big “down.” I did the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday workouts alone. This was interesting. I’m really used to running with my buddy, so it felt pretty strange.
On Sunday, the task was 5 miles with the “magic mile,” which in Galloway talk is basically a timed mile at a faster-than-usual pace. This is easily done on a track, so we met at Briarhill for this one. Steve walked the whole time I was doing the running workout. My plan was to do 2 easy miles, a third “magic mile,” and two finishing miles. I posted the picture because I thought it was funny. Track workouts look funny to me. You can see when I decided that a bathroom stop was no longer optional!
I decided during the pace mile not to look at my watch at all. Just did not want to deal with whether I was doing well or not, etc. I just ran a little faster without sprinting. My magic mile came in at 9:47. I was encouraged by this. My last two miles got a little boring, but that’s what it’s like to run around a track for nearly an hour.
I do another magic mile in a few weeks. I’m anticipating that I’ll be a little faster. Within about 6 weeks, I should be able to predict a reasonable estimation of what my marathon time should look like.
I keep saying that I will write on pace and time. It’s been a journey this time. I’ve had to do some work inside with what I’m thinking and feeling. I don’t feel like getting into it today.
Overall this week, I felt good and strong, but I missed my running buddy. He’s going to take most if not all of this week off as well.
This Saturday, 17 miles. At White Rock. Should be fun.
greggorunner 