Training Log Archive: PG

Up to the power line (16:44) and back (13:00). Must be getting used to the heat, didn't seem bad at all for the first minute or so....

So 12 hours after pontificating about the virtues of never quitting, I drop out of a 10K with a couple miles still to go. Hmmm. I suppose I can excuse it by saying the weather was brutal, dewpoint about 75. What I actually should have done is not even started. Nothing to be gained in such conditions, and if I hadn't pre-entered a month ago I wouldn't have gone.

The course in Shalburne Falls has a wicked hill starting at about 2 miles. Had nothing for it, walked the steeper parts, then was struggling just to keep going on the ensuing downs. Finally decided to stop, was feeling a little too wobbly for my peace of mind, with visions of lying by the side of the road.

I think I've dropped out of about half a dozen races -- 3 100-milers (all hot weather) where I was really croaked, my first marathon where I discovered where what the "wall" was, a trail 50K (again really hot), and a 5-miler in Amherst many years ago on a day like today, where I quit after 3 miles and was glad I did. The ambulances were busy at the finish that day.

A bad day like today poses the question as to whether it will always be like this (feeling tired/weak) from now on. So far the answer has always been No, there have been more good days in store, but at some point the answer will be Yes. I'd better enjoy things while I can.

2 x 400 (91, 90), 800 (3:15), 1600 (6:33), 800 (3:15), 2 x 400 (90, 90). Hot/humid, nice to have a group.

Before, after, a little in-between.

To the power line (16:26) and back (12:34), a little quicker at the end. Plenty of oxygen, but plenty of those little fahrenheit and dewpoint guys too. Had a hard time getting out the door, haven't done a "training" run in more than 3 weeks, but I guess it was better then expected (or maybe not as bad as expected).

Spent the night in Chicago, courtesy of United Airlines. Sure seemed like general incompetance (i.e. nothing mechanical or weather related). Took an hour to turn a 70-seat regional jet around in Colorado Sprints, including 15 minutes trying to decide if there were 61 or 62 people on board. I think there were 62 bodies and they had collected 61 boarding passes. They must have counted empty seats half a dozen times (it's really not that hard....) and asked a couple times if anyone on board wasn't meaning to go to Chicago.

And then in Chicago it took us 30 minutes from touch-down to arrival at the gate, including an extra loop around terminal C and then a while just sitting waiting for a gate. Missed our flight to Hartford by 10 minutes.

Then after standing second in line for a few minutes at the gate for the departed Hartford plane to have the agent rebook us for the morning, the agent looked up and announced he was going home after he dealt with the person he was dealing with and we'd have to go somewhere else.

I'm just glad I don't have to fly all the time....

C • 3