The reason for the long lay off is that I was on vacation last week. My wife and I, along with a couple of friends, went to the beach for a week. We had a great time and I even managed to get all but three miles of running in (I ran five to six miles every other day and bumped up some runs when we got back to make up the difference).
Contrary to the guys attitude in the above picture and what other people have said, running on the beach stinks. Thankfully, the weather was nice enough to where I was able to get most of my runs completed on asphalt without suffering from heat stroke or being forced to run on the beach where the wind made it much cooler.
Running on the beach probably could have been better if I would have been smarter and better prepared. While my wife and friends were laying out and drinking cold beverages, I decided to run my six miler on the beach that day. I put on my running shorts, running shirt and ipod and took off. If you look back over the items I took with me, you will notice I did not put on my running shoes. Nope. The genius that I am thought, "you can run barefoot, your a MAN, it will be tougher and it will be awesome."
I started the run at a pretty good pace, and even though it was twelve in the afternoon, the wind on the beach made for a mild temperature while running. I ran about a mile when I started to notice a slight burning sensation in my foot. I stopped for a second and washed it off with water and thought it was only a small cut. "Oh well", I thought and kept running. By the time I made it through the first three miles my other foot had started hurting as well. I completed the run and went over to my friends and wife to rest for a bit. It was then I noticed two huge bumps on both of my feet, under my big toes. I walked out into the Gulf and washed the sand completely off of my feet and noticed there were two huge, blood red blisters on my feet. "Great", I thought, "Looks like I screwed up the rest of my running for the week.
We went back to the condo and I treated the blisters and got them to go down in size. I took the next day of running off to heal them further. My next run went surprisingly well, and I was not even able to tell that I had two big blisters under my toes.
The other bad thing about running on the beach was dealing with all of the people getting in your way, or little kids who just start sprinting out in front of you without looking to see if the coast is clear. I almost dropped three toddlers, two tweens and a couple of old fat people during the course of my fifty minute run.
We came back home on Friday and I worked out then ran six miles (my schedule said four) that day in an effort to get my assigned miles in for the week. I ran an additional six (my schedule had four) on Saturday and my assigned twelve miles on Sunday along with another workout.
Yes, I can now run twelve miles without stopping, and I completed the run in under two hours.
Monday's track workout was the worst by far. When I arrived at the track the coach told us to complete 2 sets of 200 meters with a 200 meter recovery run, then 2 sets of 200 meters with a 400 meter recovery run. The final exercise was an 800 meter run with a lap recovery. He told me to hit my 200's in 49 seconds and to complete the 800 in 3:24. Even though my legs were blowing up from the extra running and twelve miles I did on the weekend before, I was able to complete everyone of the runs on time or earlier. The hardest part of the exercise by far was the sprinting for 800 meters....why would anyone ever want to do that?
When I finished the 800 meter run I went to the coach and said, "Alright. I am done. What do I do next, two cool down laps?" The coach smiled at me and said, "You're done? You still have to do three more sets of the exercise you just completed."
"Sh*&", I thought. "Are you fu$%ing kidding me" I said. "Nope. Get to it, you have a one lap recovery then start all over again" replied coach.
I turned around and started doing my recovery lap cussing the whole time. In fact, I did not stop cussing until I made it to the second set of 200's of the excercise I was completing. I found it became too difficult to think of other phrases involving the coach doing something to inanimate objects while at the same time trying to sprint my big ass off. By the time I finished the second 800 in 3:35 my legs were gone. I stopped to get some water and asked the coach whether he would be the one carrying my dead body off of the track when my heart and thighs exploded. "I was only kidding" responded coach, "everyone only has to do three sets, welcome back from vacation."
I would have been happier but the news meant that I still had to complete the exercise one last time. I sucked it up, completed the drills, and did the last 800 meter run in 3:28. Not bad for a fat boy with dead legs from running twelve miles the day before.
Tuesday's run was six miles and I worked out on my off day yesterday. I have to run seven miles today, four tomorrow, seven on Saturday and ten on Sunday. I will also be competing in the crime prevention five k next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., August 4, 2009, over in Mobile. The coach told me to do it so that he could get an accurate pace for me and some tempo runs (running at a fast pace for a prolonged period of time) he is going to assign. Yippeee.
I also received my new schedule for August and I will be attempting sixteen miles by the last weekend in the month. Wish me luck, I will freaking need it.
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