I think I am a little insane.
Today was a busy day. First of all, we didnt sleep until 4am and even then it was only for 1hr 45 mins. Our baby Trevor didnt want to sleep and suckled the whole night.
So I was tired and groggy when morning came. I was so starved of sleep my body was literally aching.
I got some fundis to grind away the metal grill on my balcony and I fixed a water pump and a 920 litre water tank to make water problems history in my house.
So back to the insanity. Recall that I have repeatedly said this should be a slow but huge mileage week only to go into speed sessions. Each time. Again and again. And yesterday I said I can toss my mileage in and comfort myself with the knowledge that I did a mileage equivalent to 100k.
So 6pm arrives and I decide, why not go for a 10K? These legs feel strong. Cant let that bad stomach that screwed me yesterday to get away with it now, can we? No we cant, my inner voice answers placidly.
I decided to go for a 10K. So I changed, stretched a little and left.
I decided I wanted to make myself uncomfortable today. Fast guys force themselves to go through uncomfortable training sessions and then they race easy.
Speed doesnt come to people. You cant raise your VO2 Max or Lactate Threshold without getting flooded with Lactic Acid and your body learning to wash away the lactic acid and deal with the oxygen debt and all sorts of problems you experience when you are moving fast. You slog in long slow miles, your fast twitch muscles remain inactive.
So I set off and as I did, I remembered when we used to play Basketball in high school, there were what we used to call suicide laps. I decided since I was going all out, I will be calling my ten Kays suicide 10Kays. The basic idea is to put my body in trouble and force it to learn to handle that trouble, that is to run in such a way that lactic acid is getting generated almost faster than it can be rid of.
So I was running hard, my teeth were out. I just wanted to get the mental toughness of being able to handle that discomfort. I gritted my teeth and clenched my jaws for 49 minutes and I am very pleased with my performance.
As much as it became dark when I was on the 6th frame, I managed to return sub 5min 1kays until I completed. This is excellent considering this is a hilly route (I decided to attack all hills. My heart rate be damned), considering I didnt have anything I can call fresh legs, considering it was dark and I had to slow down in several places to ensure I dont step in a hole or on a stone, consideriong some buggers blocked my path and I had to navigate round them etc.
So it is good. I believe under a different set of circumstances, I can do a 45mins 10K. I probably will on Tuesday when I try another suicide 12K. Tomorrow I rest and enjoy my baby, wife and visitors. I sympathize with the 12K on Monday. The ferocity burning in me, and having nothing to lose, means the 12K will be in trouble.
It is interesting to note that my average heart rate was 166. My current speed runs are kinda "safe" compared to 200M or 100m repeats I think that is why I have pulled this off without an injury. There is only that fast you can run 3k or 5k. Those are the intervals we are looking at.
Cheers
No comments:
Post a Comment