Gotta work for it!!

Upon leaving the chute of a Thursday evening race on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, I'd be lying to say you didn't catch me pouting. I picked myself up off the mats immediately when Gregg and I began our cooldown back to the car on the other end of the point-to-point course. He instilled it into my head that it is an energy system that I haven't been training enough and couldn't have expected a much better result. Doing a road mile is about the furthest thing away my forte as a runner. However, that doesn't mean I won't set goals or lack ambitions to be as good of an all-rounder on foot as I can. Stopping the clock in 5:11 was 10 seconds slower than my previous two attempts on our home route but I did agree this one was tougher by design. Starting in the row behind my old roommate Pat Russell didn't get me off on the right foot either. Even on a good day, I'd be 20 seconds in the rear of what they ran, so, to be trailing only a few strides @ 1/4-mile had me quickly realize that some physiological retaliations were on the way. It's amazing how time is perceived in distress. A minute seemed like an hour during the middle portion of this effort when I knew that my error had already ruined any chances of a 4:59.

Speaking of that, blogger shit the bed a few days ago and was suppose to put a removed post back up eventually. A piece of content from that were some checkpoints I plan to use this spring & summer to gauge my progression prior to round #1 of the USGP. One of them might have been the Half Voyageur but now I have chosen to scratch that from the list. Building a large aerobic foundation isn't going to be as difficult as prepping the ability to withstand all the toxins emitted during times when one turns him/herself inside out. My appreciation skyrocketed after this humbling experience and have great motivation to carry out many legitimate high intensity workouts. I'm sure there are hidden benefits that don't present themselves as obvious to me either.