Finding the Pace?

Thursday- 4miles- 32min
Friday- 12miles- 1:29- 3w up, 3x3k at LT pace, 3 c dn

Yesterday was a good run. It was a return to some faster running for the first time in 17 days. And despite it being just 13 days post my 50 miler (and 48hrs since a 22), the legs felt pretty good. BUT, I sure did have trouble finding what tempo pace is again.

I ran my 1520m loop 2x for 3040m or close enough to "2 miles" after a decent warm up. I did not do any striders or quicker running before setting off on the first go around and it showed as I was 16 seconds too slow. I adjusted and then managed to run pretty well afterward:

3x 3040m- 12:20, 11:52, 12:05 on 2 minute recoveries

My Lactate threshold pace is around 6:17 per mile so these repeats should have all been about the pace of the 2nd one. However, it is always important to listen to the old body and run smooth and relaxed. Thus the third one was a bit slow. I'll take it.... and am feeling pretty confident again now to think I have been able to put in the 22 miler and this LT workout less than 2 weeks post a run that absolutely destroyed my quads. I think this bodes very well.

After my last posts comments I have to laugh and tell you about September of 1997 when I went camping in a remote state forest of upstate NY for 4-5 days. I took only pop tarts and power bars with me and put in a 112 mile week running trails in preparation for my first marathon.

In today's multi-million dollar sports nutrition world we can easily loose sight of the basics. In the 20 minutes post exercise your insulin IGF-I hormone levels pulse and thus, a huge ability to transport glucose from the blood, into the muscle for endogenous storage as glycogen occurs. It does not have to be fancy......in fact simple is better. Glucose is glucose is glucose and by dumping poptarts into my system 15min post run I was able spike my blood glucose level and replenish my muscle glycogen stores. The only thing that would have worked any better would be orange juice or glucose tablets that can be held in the mouth and absorbed right through the mucus membranes there.

One of my heroes in running is Bill Rodgers. One of my favorite quotes from him refers to his late-night snack habit back in the late 1970's when he would get up and go eat chocolate chip cookies dipped in mayonnaise! He said "I don't know if I eat like this because I am running 150mpw or if I run 150mpw so I can eat like this"