Come From Behind

For the second straight week, I stuck with the program and achieved my target mileage.  After doing 92 Kilometers last week to formally bust out of hibernation, I aimed for a more conservative 60 to 65 kilometers for the week of 6 to 12 June.  I started off on the wrong foot and opened the week with not just one, but two missed runs, but quickly got back on track via that glorious 15-Kilometer run last Wednesday.  The week ended with today's 20-Kilometer easy run that gave me a total of 60 Kilometers for the week. All in all, it was a good week, and I am again getting used to running almost daily.

A quick glance at the week that was:

Monday, 6 June:  Work forced me to ditch my planned 5-Kilometer recovery run. That, and my body also craved a day off from running.

Tuesday, 7 June:  Second straight "runless" day. Some of our company's global officers - including one of our biggest guns - were in town, and I took them out for dinner and a couple of drinks.  The couple of drinks were followed by a couple more, and then a couple more, and then a couple more, and then a couple more, and then a cou... oh, you get the idea. To cut a long story short, I got piss drunk. Not cool.

Wednesday, 8 June: 15-Kilometer Hangover Run completed in 1:50:10 at an average pace of 7:18 mins/km. Splits were 7:46, 6:31, 6:48, 6:37, 6:40, 7:01, 6:38, 5:58, 6:12, 6:15, 9:45, 7:32, 9:00, 8:13, and 8:16. Notice that I picked up the pace from Kilometers 2 to 10. I wanted to check if I could still run at a pace that's a bit faster than ultra pace, and I think I did a decent job. I enjoyed this particular run immensely, so much so that it served as the inspiration for my previous post.

Thursday, 9 June: 13.5-Kilometer run completed in 1:36:15 at an average pace of 7:07 mins/km. Splits were 7:04, 7:23, 7:19, 6:54, 6:47, 6:25, 6:27, 6:23, 6:23, 6:08, 7:23, 7:42, 7:13, and 12:34 for the last 500 meters, which I walked. I wanted to go for 15 Kilometers but it was getting late, and I had work to do.  Again, a portion of the run (Kilometers 4 to 10) was done at a pace that is relatively faster than my usual pace nowadays.

Friday, 10 June: 11.5-Kilometer run completed in 1:18:09 at an average pace of 6:47 mins/km. Splits were 8:01, 6:48, 6:01, 5:57, 6:02, 7:17, 6:52, 6:46, 6:50, 6:30, 6:51, and 8:10 for the last 500 meters, which I again walked. After three days, my total stood at 40 Kilometers. I was able to make up for my missed runs earlier in the week by increasing my mileage for the past three days (I had originally planned to do only 10-Kilometer runs). This set me up nicely for my planned 20-kilometer weekend run.

Saturday, 11 June: Rest day. The highlight of the day was a yakiniku buffet dinner with my family to celebrate my mom's birthday. The fat, cholesterol, and sugar intake left me with no choice but to do that long-ish run the following day.

Sunday, 12 June: I came thiiiiis close to giving up on today's run. Last night's family dinner was followed by drinks with friends that lasted until 4 a.m. I got up at 10 a.m., drank buckets of water, went back to bed, and woke up for lunch at 12:30. I spent the rest of the afternoon getting a haircut and watching my Ateneo Blue Eagles beat the living hell out of the San Beda Red Lions. The game ended well past 5 p.m., and I was simply in no mood to run. Too late to do 20, I was convinced. And then, my conscience went to work, and I asked myself this: Does this week really deserve to end this way? Does my hard-fought 92-Kilometer week deserve to be followed by a 40-Kilometer let-down? Ah, rhetorical questions. Don't you just love them?  

Within a few minutes, I was dressed for a run and determined to meet my number. The Ultra oval was closed, so I resolved to instead  do five laps around my four-kilometer Valle Verde route. That meant that I would have to go up St. Martin Street five times. St. Martin is that street between the Ultra complex and Valle Verde Country Club. Very steep. Instant hill repeats. Excellent workout.

I completed 20 Kilometers in 2:40:08 at an average pace of 8:00 mins/km. This run gave me 60 Kilometers for the week. Mission accomplished. They say that the best runs are usually those that you nearly give up on but eventually end up doing and finishing. I must say that I believe that 100%.

Another week of running is upon me and, this early, I am already staring at a couple of challenges. I won't be able to run on Tuesday and Sunday because of family gatherings to celebrate my sister's birthday and Father's Day. That means I will only have five days to run for this week, with no guarantee that I will have time to do a long run. Just the same, I will work with the hand that I have been dealt and go for a 70-Kilometer week.