Bumper sticker of the day --> My performance at the Milkman was somewhat perplexing, and I've been trying to figure it out. My swim was better than usual; my bike was good, and then my run was nearly six minutes slower than it usually is. It was about 6 minutes longer than usual. I've decided that there are several possibilities:
- I drank a glass of wine the night before at Applebees. It did something to me.
- I didn't have my usual cup of coffee the morning of the race (I generally start the day with a soy coconut 110-degree mocha) I was suffering from withdrawal of coffee, or chocolate, or both.
- Heat. I hate it. Like a rare flower, I must be maintained at the correct temperature: between 68 and 74 for just sitting around, between 55 and 65 for running. Anything else just makes me wilt. And bitch. A lot. It was around 85 degrees when I was running. Case and point: today, it is 97 degrees. At night, in the desert, it cools to about 60 degrees. What this means is that I get all my business done in the morning and then hide inside like a prairie dog.
- My swim and bike were TOO good. I blew out all I had, and then didn't have anything left for the run.
- Humidity. Okay, I'm more like a high desert succulent, which does not tolerate humidity.
- There was a fire. A terrible flood. Locusts. The sun was in my eyes.
- Mind-control poison government jet contrails (and me without my foil helmet)
- Any combination of all or some of the above.
In any case, I'm going to start my first track-speed workouts tomorrow, and I plan to do them once a week. I'll be doing an easy 2-mile jog down to the track. Then, I'll do five 400 meter repeats, with about 2 or 3 minutes' rest in between. Then an easy jog back home.
Of course, all this will be completed before 7 am MST, for I, the slothful Athena, am only surpassed in my love of sleep by my love of not being caught running in the heat of New Mexico summer. Plus, I'm still trying to get those hyper-pigment whatevers, the brown patches on my face, to fade.
I've never done speed work or track work as an adult, so it will be interesting to see how it works out. The last time I tried to sprint was at a mother-and-daughter softball game up in South Dakota. My body headed toward first, and my legs stayed put. The result was that I wound up rolling on the ground in the dust and wearing most of the field. But that was back before I started running, so maybe my legs can keep up with the rest of me.
