With the kids in remote learning or hybrid or whatever we are calling it these days, one benefit is being able to escape for long weekends more often. So we packed up the crew and headed up to Training Camp North for a few days.
The weather has been perfect for those that like it a bit cooler. High 20’s at night and in the morning but 50’s during the day. Definitely sweater weather. Frost on the cars and time to pull out the gloves for morning workouts.
With the focus still on the run I have been poking around some new trails while the family walked them at the same time. The dog has been doing great with the walks as well. We have been doing between 2 and 3 miles a day and that is just enough to tucker him out. He won’t be ready to run them just yet, but he is getting good on the leash.
One thing I always like to do when I travel is explore the area on a run. For business trips I can’t always bring my bike or find a pool, but I have always been able to run. Finding the new spots or something I wouldn’t not have normally seen is alot of fun. This trip, besides checking out John Brown’s farm, I located a track for some speed work. Being an Olympic town, and home to some of the best Winter athletes in the world, it was cool to be on the track while others were there working on their own sports like skeleton.
Like last week, I started off with an easy warm-up and drills before getting into anything intense. It wasn’t too windy, and the temps were perfect, so I was ready to get to work. My workout started off with 200’s again, and this week I was consistently 3-5 seconds faster per interval. This put me inside of my goal pace which was nice. They also felt pretty relaxed, another good sign. After the set of 200’s it was on to 400’s which were a bit harder of course (they hurt). I tried to gauge pace and effort and came in pretty slow on the first one. Although I was able to increase the pace on each one, I was still just behind where I want to be. My next interval was 600 and that was a dumpster fire. Well, it wasn’t the worst thing I have ever done, but it hurt and I was slow.
Although I am still behind my goal numbers, it is week #2 of track work, and I need to keep that in perspective. Am I impatient? Yes, but only when it takes time to accomplish something. After years of Ironman and Half-Ironman races, it is like I am building from the beginning. I know that is not exactly true, endurance is still there, but my muscles have definitely adjusted to their new roles of being able to function for half a day without stop. If I am successful in this experiment, and I think I may actually be, it should serve as proof to anyone that they can calibrate themselves even a little later in life.
Admittedly, it doesn’t get easier as you get older, but if we keep ourselves fit and functioning, the hurdles in front of us are much more manageable.
Float. Spin. Walk. 