The One Where I Use Google Image Search (And Embarrass Myself At The Track)

...But, y'know. In a fun, light-hearted way.

My new dynamic stretches. Just kidding, this is what you get when you google "lighthearted."

It's a little less fresh now, so I can be lighthearted about it.

I doubt I will ever be what I think of as a real endurance runner, ie someone who revels in long runs, pulls 15+ miles multiple times a week, races in the 18-20-26+ range semi-regularly, etc. The truth is I kind of feel like a poser when I do, and honestly if I do these things even a little bit good by any standard, I'm pretty proud of myself. I started out as a sprinter, still love track workouts, and run 5Ks & 10Ks as my "A" races fairly often. When I don't knock the long runs out of the park, I can always console myself with the fact that I keep up a pretty darn respectable schedule of speed workouts.

Well--kept up, that is. To wit:

April track workout: 4 x 1.5 miles @ 10K pace - BOOM. Done.

September track workout: 2 x 1.5 miles @ 10K pace - Uuuuuuggggghhhhh.......

April track workout: 5 x 1 mile @ 8K pace - Nothing but win.

September track workout: 1 mile @ 10K pace + 2 x 800 @ 5K pace + 1 mile @ 10K pace - This suuuuuucks.

April track workout: 12 x 400m @ 1:30 each, 1:00 recovery - OWNED IT.

September track workout: 6 x 400m @ 1:40 each, 1:40 recovery - I think I'm about to throw up.

I'm over trying to figure out how I backslid so far, so fast, even after keeping up a reasonable number of miles in July. It doesn't matter. All that matters now is that when I look at my assigned track workouts now, I've learned to ignore the voice in my head going, "Phhhhhbbbbttt! Kid stuff!" and instead tell myself, "Why don't you just start with what's written & see how that goes before you get too hoity-toity about it."

This is what 'hoity toity' gets you.

Seriously. Although I did have a better track workout this week than I have been in terms of how my legs felt during & after, by the 5th of those 6 four hundreds, I really was legitimately worried about barfing on the track. (This is kind of a trend with me lately.)

Le Splits:

1 - 1:32
2 - 1:35
3 - 1:35
4 - 1:35
5 - 1:34
6 - 1:35

I may not be as fast as I was earlier this year, but at least I've still got consistency going for me.

I also have to keep reminding myself that this is marathon training, after all, which is fundamentally different from my usual mode in that the main focus is on keeping up a brisk-but-not-stupid pace over several hours (I think this is usually what people mean by "strength") and not 'speed' in the sense of intervals.

On the awesome side of things, I ran the entire thing (warm-up, cool down, & all) in a NEUTRAL SHOE with no ill effects:

Bonus points if you can name the shoe without doing an image search for 'brooks shoe neutral.'

I probably will have more to say about this later, but just know it is a BIG. FREAKING. DEAL.

In closing, I leave you with this picture of a man in a hamburger bed.

This picture is pure awesome, because it involves both a) a delicious thing I had for dinner, and b) a place that (as you may have guessed from this post) I have not been spending near enough time lately.