Lydiard experiment: week 1 report

Where to start? At the beginning or the end? OK the end. Total of 65 miles in 6 runs and 9hr of time on my feet (8:11 avg pace). The plan calls for 6-8 weeks of conditioning work where the runs will be based on time and not miles and the effort will be of secondary concern until I can get up to speed as far as the total time goes. In this 1st week all the runs have been either 1hr or 1.5 hours besides the longer 2.5+ hr Sunday run.

After surviving an easy hour on day 1 and the trouncing that I took on day 2 at the hands of two teenagers it was another easy hour on Thursday with my new running friend Eddy. You may or may not remember my story of Eddy at the Saint John marathon in August. It was his 1st marathon and he struggled in with me after a fast 1st 20 miles. He swore never again but after a few months to cool off he's back again and thinking about the 3:10 he needs to BQ. Anyway, he's back in town and was looking for a run so we did the golf course path route while we jabbered away about training programs and stuff. Total of 8 miles in just over 64 minutes and it felt like we were just jogging along.

Friday called for a 1 to 1.5 hour run and the conditions were just dreadful with temperatures just above freezing at 1C (34F), a steady cold rain and a brisk northeast wind to put the icing on the cake. My plan to leave work early at the end of the day was thwarted by the threatening weather and my vain hope that it might let up a bit. A quick check of the latest weather radar loop showed that it was not to be and so it was do or do not.

And as usual, I did, with a rather miserable slog of a run again on the golf trails so as to stay away from traffic and to give me the option to bail if it got really bad. There were a few nice minutes in the woods with the wind at my back but mostly it seemed that I was running into the wind and cold driving rain for the most part. At the 1hr mark the temptation to cut the run short was very strong but I quelled the urge long enough to begin an out and back loop around town that sealed the deal. The run finished just as it was getting dark for a total of 1hr 34 min and 11 miles. My fingers were so cold that it was hard to undo my double knotted shoes and I then had to disrobe my wet clothes into a bucket so as to not track a path through the house to the hot shower that was from heaven. Check!

This morning I finished up the week with an almost 1hr run or 57 min. Close enough Andrew? I was running a bit late as we were about to hit the road for a shopping trip to Saint John to try to pick out the perfect tile. It was a success but more on that another time. Right now it's time to get ready for tomorrow's long run with Andrew and possibly Marc if his knee holds up. I've got a very special 'treat' in store for them which should put a smile on their tired faces. We'll see what happens....