"He trained harder and harder. IN the winter, when the snow always covered the track, he added a jersey inside his tracksuit, put a woollen cap on his head, heavy boots on his feet, and ran in the woods....he reasoned, if his body got used to this it would feel wonderfully free when set loose in a race with nice light spiked shoes on a nice cinder track. It did; his feet were light and rejoicing. His whole body was rejoicing."
- Norman Harris describing Emil Zatopek's winter training in The Lonely Breed
"What the hell is that?" Cassidy pointed out the window.
"That my boy is snow. White stuff that falls from God. It won't hurt you actually..." [Denton replied]
John L. Parker, Jr. Once a Runner
As evident in the photograph, a snow storm of historic proportions dropped nearly 30 inches of snow on Baltimore. Aside from starting my "down week" two days early, my running continued as planned. My body is extremely tired from the double sessions that I began last week. I was hoping it would be a smooth transition, but it hasn't been; I am confident that a 75 mile week on single sessions would have felt easier. However, as I explained in my last post, double sessions are necessary, and adapting to this new stimulus ultimately will propel to a new level of fitness, if I proceed cautiously and adjust my training accordingly. Since I was extremely fatigued on Friday afternoon, I decided to forgo my second workout of the week.
When I realized the storm would preclude me from accumulating a solid 10 to 12 miles of running on Saturday, I decided to begin my down week a few days early. First, I checked my running log and discovered that I had run 232.25 miles over the previous 21 days, which works out to an average of 11+ miles a day and 77+ for the seven day periods. Since I had planned to take Monday off entirely, I nearly convinced myself to take off Saturday instead; however, my conscience would not allow this respite, and I completed a 35:00 run in the aftermath of the blizzard to complete a 74.5 mile week. Since I my down week will actually be a seven days period spanning the end of last week and the beginning of next week, it will appear bizarre on a neat calendar. A closer look, however, will reveal that it is well placed. Furthermore, my body doesn't know that its recovery period is not confined to a Sunday through Saturday block.
I met with Ben today for a long run, which was supposed to be about 2 hours, or approximately 17 miles. At the end of the run, I probably covered close to 17 miles, but I had run for at least 2:12. The roads were atrocious and the course was extremely hilly. It was easily the most difficult long run I've completed since I began training again last May, not including, of course, long runs that incorporated tempo runs. While I cruised along Roland Avenue surrounded by wrecked and abandoned vehicles, mountains of snow, and fallen trees, I thought about the passage (above) describing Zatopek's winter training. I could have rationalized a shorter run, or simply broken the two hours into two sessions. Thus, I was happy that I opted for the full length (and then some) long run that I had planned when the snow storm was just a rumor.
The Week: January 31 through February 6
Sunday: 17.25 mile long run - 2:00:00 on hilly terrain
Monday: 8+ miles - 57:00
Tuesday: 4 miles AM; 10 miles PM - 66:00 plus 6x25-second striders
Wednesday: 11.25 miles - 20:00 tempo, averaging 5:38/mile (disastrous)
Thursday: 6.25 miles - easy/recovery run
Friday: 4.25 miles AM; 9.25 miles PM, including 6x25-second striders
Saturday - 4 miles easy/recovery - snow storm!
Total: 74.5
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