running fast makes you feel like you're 8

i admit that i was dreading practice a bit today. it sounded like it was going to be rough.

i managed to leave work relatively on time, but i was in "a mood" because of some stuff that i will not get into here as it has yet to be resolved. (don't worry - i'm not getting myself fired or anything like that. just important, healthy debate, but can i get a little emotional sometimes.) if you don't know what i mean by this, you're lucky. if you do, you can imagine. i was quickly weaving my way east to the 6 train on canal, alternately ignoring and making inappropriate gestures to the disgusting cat-callers that line the sidewalk. (men. don't cat-call the ladies. we are way over it. if you break this rule, at least say something clever enough to make her laugh and help her repress the urge to stick her thumb in your eyeball.) getting uptown at 6:45 is a mix of skill (getting out on time & manuvering around hawkers and tourists on canal) & luck (getting on the local quickly, hitting express transfer, and not getting stuck behind ridiculously slow walkers going up the stairs).

i was making good time, but was so distracted by my grumbling and talking to myself about work that i stood on the downtown track for a good 5 minutes and almost got on the wrong train. damn. i managed to hit the express...but got on a car with zero air conditioning (which you still need in this weather) and the 4 decided to go painfully slowly between 14th and 42nd. so i was now angry, running late & sweaty. ! deep breaths.

at 42nd, i ran to another car which was marginally better. of course, at the next stop, 59th, 15 people did the same thing, and they were all inbetween me and the door i was going to need to exit from. ! i looked at them miserably, worried i'd miss my stop and then i would lose it. sure enough, when the stop came, no one tried to get out of the way of the door for people that needed to leave, and everyone was too polite to even say loud excuse me's, so i did something i've never really done before. on behalf of me and all the others trying to get through, i firmly but pleasantly said in my best very loud-theatre-voice "coming OUT!" and it was like the parting of the red seas. go moses.

it was more of the same getting to the park, dropping off my bag, etc. i was in a huff and kind of glad we were going to have a hard work out because i was sufficiently mad at the world to want to run it out. i missed the mission moment, but did arrive in time to learn that i was NOT the lead fundraiser. someone has apparently raised over 7...time for another round of letters.

so as i posted earlier, today was alernating "not-quite-sprints" with recovery. our coach was in the middle, which wasn't quite in the middle, and we would run at effort level 4 (e4) to him, then from him to the other side of the transferse was recovery - e1. then back again. and back again. until they said stop. he told us there was no such thing as too slow for e1, that it was most important during recovery to get our breath back and try to get our heart rate down. i decided i would listen.

handsome and i warmed up and then we were in the second group to start. we all took off and there was definitely a feeling of competition in the air. i tried to work hard, but not run my ultimate fastest. i used my arms and swung them longer, which as i know you remember ;) lengthens your stride. i was not going my all out fastest but i felt like i was going *fast*. as i said in the title, i felt like i was a kid. when do you ever really RUN any more? i mean not jog, or trot accross the street, but full-out-heart-racing-blood-rushing-run! well, clearly for me, not very often. we reached the middle and i felt winded but okay. everyone passed me on recovery but like i said - i really took it slow and focused on the breathing. i wanted to be able to maintain my speed during the e4 sections as long as possible. as we went to the west side, i did notice the 2nd half was probably 1.5x as long as the first. hmm.

the first one i went too fast and since the recovery on the back end was shorter, i was hurting a little but then i got the hang of it, and really did great. i was able to for the most part stay very strong and fast during the speedy sections even if i was going slower on the recoveries. the people that were passing me during the recoveries, i was flying by during the e4s...which i admit, was cool. i felt really great at the end of it, although i know i'm going to be hurting tomorrow. not sure of the milage, first because i don't know the length of the transverse, and second because i can't remember how many laps i did...but i'll try to figure it out. for now i'm going to guess 5 full laps @ .7 miles per lap...3.5? sounds high. we'll say 3 until i check.EDIT: handsome has done the checking...each lap .5 but with the .75 there and back...4 miles!

i do believe i'll run tomorrow evening, not the morning...my IT band is already really stiff, the only thing that's bothering me now, and it could probably use the extra rest.

'night people.

today's mileage: 3.0 4.0
todal mileage: 73.24 74.24