Building

“Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.”
Thomas Carlyle

The last two weeks have been filled with excitement, planning, racing and camaraderie. I have enjoyed every minute of it and it does not stop.

I went from participating in the 114th running of the Boston Marathon, to being a man slave for a group of dedicated, hard core athletes in a 200 mile relay to know awaiting my wife, Sarah to accomplish another goal she has set for herself, a Half Ironman Distance Triathlon.

Sarah is in her final week of training for her epic race that takes place 1 week from tomorrow. As I write, Sarah is out on a 6 mile trail run with a few of her training buddies. I feel a sense of pride in her dedication and commitment to herself and her race. With the injuries that have plagued her on her run, she still holds a good frame of mind and is going into this race believing she can and will do the best she can. Sarah already has the self-esteem and confidence that will carry her to her accomplishment next Saturday.

This week for me has been up and down. I am officially in “post marathon training” for the next 8 weeks until I kick it into high gear for the Chicago Marathon in October. Mid-June cannot come fast enough, but I think my old age is allowing me to accept a slow progression and patience in training. Like my friend, Carmen who smoked the St. Anthony’s tri last weekend, I am about schedules and timing. In order for me not to put too much on but slowly build back my fitness from the pounding you take on a marathon, I have turned to the Hal Higdon programs for recovery and base building on my run.

For the next 8 weeks, I have a regimented program of runs 5-6 days a week, but unlike the winter training I endured, I am going to run with other runners. The plan I have established has a lot of variances involved to allow me to “run” with other runners, which I have missed over the last year.

This morning was one of those days were I could run with another runner. I met Ann Marie at the pool this morning. Her Friday workout consisted of a swim then a tempo run. We got to the pool at 4:50AM (that was hard to do) and swam Ken’s workout her established for her:

300M Warm-up
10 X 200M on the 4:15’s
200M Cool Down

I took lane 3 and Ann Marie was in lane 4. The water I must say was good. Not cloudy, not dirty, not the chemical peel as Rebecca stated a few days ago.

After the warm up, we jumped into the sets. Ann Marie was consistently hitting the mark of 3:25’s + or -, while I hit around 3:00’s. I waited for her interval time of 4:15 and then we took off again. The workout was good and I enjoyed swimming without having to “prove” anything to other swimmers in your lane. We both swam or swim.

When the swim was completed we changed into our running gear. I had brought a jar of honey along to refuel since all of the GU’s have been used up by Sarah and me. I downed a huge mouth full of nectar and went to meet AM in the lobby. As I approached the LTF lobby I saw Bob stretching near the lobby T.V. Bob had just came in from running 3 miles. He is doing a 5K with his son tomorrow and ran a short run to get the blood and muscles moving. We chatted about weight, runs, Chicago while waiting for AM.

After a few moments of conversation, AM appeared and we took off on the tempo run. By the way, good luck tomorrow Bob, I expect to hear your results!
Ann Marie’s run consisted of:

10 Minutes @ 8:15
2 X 10 minutes @ 7:45, then 5 minutes @ 7:15
5 minutes @ 8:15

I had plotted her paces and time and come up with a 5.8 mile loop that was dead on:

Tradewinds to Morris
Morris to MBTA
MBTA to North Point
NP to Windward
WW to HWY 9
HWY 9 to Henderson Pkwy
HP to Cumming St
Cumming to Westside Pkwy
WS Pkwy to Morris
LTF

It was a good run. The temperature was in the mid 50’s, ideal for running. There was a series of hills up and down along with some flats to hook into a groove. At the end of the run, we both felt like we got a good workout in.

While stretching we “ran” into Brian, Calvin and Michelle. The 3 had just finished a 10 miler in and around Alpharetta. Michelle is participating in Gulf Coast next weekend which will also be her first Half Ironman distance event.

Race season is here. The construction of building confidence and esteem has begun for all.