We run together for companionship

In addition to the safety factor, we run together for companionship, and to remind each other how important a part of our lives this activity is.
Gordon Bloch, author

On Sunday, I went out for a run with my law school friend, Sean. Now, Sean is almost a foot taller than me, so I take a few steps for every one of his strides. We went out for an 8 miler - the longest run he had been on for a while. Because I do most of my runs alone, I appreciated having his company - to have someone to talk to and share the experience with. It was a lot of fun - we ran around the National Mall and caught up (we hadn't seen each other since December). It's also a good workout for me to run with him because I have to run fast to keep up with his long legs. There were was definitely a shared joy when we finished - that he got through it, that we had nice weather, and that we did it together. He might join me for part of my 18 miler on Saturday, which would be a bonus. After a few hours, the company is a very good thing.

Now, I don't have a steady running partner. When I go home, I have Mark and Adam (triathlete buds), when I ran at CTY, I had my student Annie, but never the steady partner. Which is fine, and I enjoy mixing it up with different people on my runs. I have picked up somewhat of a running coach in my friend Sarah. As a refresher, Sarah a fellow medievalist who I met in grad school. She paced me through my final 10 miles of MCM (in pink), and is now designing my Boston plan. She is an excellent runner, ranked in DC, and I know she's going to continue to excell in the sport. I always e-mail her my times of my track workouts, so that she knows how I'm doing with the work she's assigned. And with today being a track workout, I e-mailed her my times:2000 meter cutaway: 2:05, 4:08, 6:08, 8:05, 10:006 x 800 3:53, 3:50, 3:45, 3:42, 3:39, 3:36

I started to feel tired about the 4th 800, but not too bad. Recovered during the cooldown. All in all, a good workout! She wrote back, That's great! You did a great job cutting the whole workout down, which is what the real point of it is. Getting tired around the fourth 800 is not too bad, especially since you were still able to cut-down after that. I hope you are starting to feel strong--even if a bit tired! You'll probably feel pretty dead tomorrow, so again, just shuffle through the run. It doesn't matter how slow you go, just get it in. I wrote back telling her that yes, I am feeling much stronger, and already more prepared for Boston than I did for MCM. Her response, I'm glad to hear that you feel that way. I don't have you doing anything that I wouldn't do for my training, and you are actually doing a lot of similiar workouts to the ones I do with the team.

I'm not going to lie, it gives me a bit of a thrill to know that we're doing similar workouts, and running similar mileage. She is fast, and it gives me hope that I can continue to improve. Also, it is just nice to be able to write back and forth about running and get feedback from someone who knows me and and how I operate. So, even though we don't run together much, the companionship is great.

This week is another mileage increase - and hopefully I'll get comfortable soon running 55 mpw.

Monday, January 25: OFF
Tuesday, January 26: 2.5 mile warm-up; 5 lap cut-down run (2000 meters), start at 8:25 pace and cut down 2-3 seconds per lap; jog 2 laps; 6x800 meters, 1 lap jog between each rep, start first 800 at 3:53 and aim to cut down about 3-5 seconds per rep. 4 mile cool-down. Total mileage—12.75 miles
Wednesday, January 27: 6 miles easy
Thursday, January 28: 9 miles easy
Friday, January 29: OFF
Saturday, January 30: 18 miles easy, run easy the first 5 miles, average marathon goal pace for 8 miles, finish last 5 miles as easy run.
Sunday, January 31: 8 miles easy
Weekly Mileage Total: 53.75 miles