Congrats on placing in the race KS!

Things have fallen apart a little bit this week, but I expected it to go that way.  Wed was a day off.  Thurs was a day off as well.  Friday I was on XC skis for the first time this year.  Managed 10k in about 90 min.  Today I was sore in the upper body, but went out for another 7k ski this afternoon.  Weather is pretty nice with temps just above zero (C) but the snow is a bit sticky.  Tomorrow I will try to run for a couple of hrs.

DD ran a 1500 race today.  Said all her fast teammates are at XC nationals in Guelph, so she was first overall out of 5 runners, in 5:04.  It was  PR for her but 9 sec off her goal.  She said she went out at 38 sec per 200, and was right on 4 min at 1200 meters.  She still has not learned to relax and go out slowly, and build from there.  A couple of weeks ago she was doing 1200 meter intervals at 40 sec per lap, and said she could easily have gone another 300 meters at that pace,  But...........I guess you eventually learn that fast starts result in slow finishes unless you have talent!

ksrunr wrote:

Jim - I only warmed up 1.25-1.5 miles. Didn't feel right even then. 16.25 miles this morning ez.

You might have felt better after a couple more miles. One thing that helps me to understand the importance of the pre-race warmup is when I think about my daily runs. I usualy run a 1.4 miles loop on the grass that is aways 20-30 seconds or more slower on the first loop than on the next one, even if I don't consciously try to go slow. By the 3rd loop I'm going 40-60 seconds faster than the first with no increase in effort--actually the effort is less. There has to be a lesson there. Can I afford to give up 20 seconds or more during the first part of a race by not having a good warmup? Warmups are very underrated, imo.

Yesterday was my final run of any substance until next Sunday. I did a 20k, averaging 8-min pace for the first half and mid 6:50's for last half. It will be all slow-easy runs from here on execpt for 3 miles at M pace on Wednesday and a few strides on a couple other days. No long warmup for the marathon, though

I learn something from everyone here and thought of all during my pool time today.

I went to the pool hoping to meet others doing an easy workout. No one, save a few brief lap swimmers, appeared. What to do with the two allotted hours since I decided to leave the cap and goggles in the locker? It's difficult to determine distance in the pool, so I decided to do time at perceived effort. 2 hours = 1/2 marathon. I was ready to quit at 90 minutes, but wanted to report a full 2 hours. Accomplished. Healthy goal: a 1/2 next September.

Jim, take care of yourself this week.

JP, hope all is well. I need some cycling wisdom if you check in.

I edited this because I can't figure out how to make the paragraph spacing work consistently.

Message was edited by: euphoric

5.4 slow, but felt much better, so I guess I am now recovered.   Off to Chicago for the rest of the week.  Bad weather there.   Spareribs