I Want To Go To There

I was completely trashed following the weekend, so took it easy for a minute. I took a complete day off on Tuesday, which worked out since the weather was terrible. And Wednesday I just ran the WNR (9 miles). I felt uncomfortable, but at least part of that was due to the fish-kill in the Harbor. Since the weekend it has smelled awful all around town. It's choking us out.

Yesterday was a prescribed day of pain. OJ and I rolled out at 8:30 for a 3 hour ride followed by 6 mile run. We rode pretty easy for the first hour, and then kicked into some harder efforts. The first was along a flat-ish stretch of road and ended with Manor Rd, which is a very hard, very steep climb. Easy spinning down into Loch Raven, and then another push starting just prior to the climb out of the park on Providence and continued a few miles to Goucher Blvd.

Another easy effort through Towson and when we turn onto Kenilworth we do a power effort for a little over a mile. We were holding 34mph for 2:15. More easy spinning before the last effort, from the intersection of Old Court and Falls, up the Princeton Sports hill and then hard up Bellmore to finish.

The last little thing we do is put in a big 400m sprint on Roland or whatever it is that goes into Hampden. A flat straightaway from the traffic light to the fire station, and you just have to go aerobic. Just under 35mph for the max speed. Super anaerobic.

It was a great workout, mixing in flats, hills, hilltop finishes, sprints and anaerobic efforts. As we came back down Guilford into the city, something stopped working on my bike. I could no longer shift. Apparently the cable for my shifting mechanism snapped. Guess that's what happens when you ride the shit out of your bike for 4 years. I rode the rest of the way back in a huge gear. Dammit. I hope I can get it fixed by tomorrow but not sure if that's realistic.

Anyway off the bike we went out for a run. It had been so humid on the bike that it was misting. Then it stopped misting but it got warmer and was still humid. On the run, needless to say, without water, it was warm. We headed out following the WNR course and I figured we were probably running 7 minute pace. Imagine my surprise when we (fairly comfortably) hit mile 1 in 6:08. At that point, we agreed we may as well push it til 15 minutes, so we rolled along the stinky water. Dead fish everywhere. I think we hit 2.5 miles in that time. Then some easy running through Fells and Harbor East before turning back up Fleet Street.

The goal was to run another hard effort from the intersection of Boston/Fleet back home, which is about a mile and a half (but definitely under). I made it all of a minute into the effort and thought I was going to have to stop. I was cooked. Nevertheless I made it home all right, but it was really hard.

It was the best workout I've had this year, and I was completely worked after. Not helping was the fact I went out on Wednesday night for a friend's birthday, resulting in a later than necessary night. Thursday was Emily's birthday so we had a nice little family night before she and Bryan head out today on a two week Mediterranean cruise. Nice.

Today's forecast is the longest run I've done since the marathon, probably 14 or 15 miles at Patapsco. Then tomorrow Ben and myself have our first gig as race timers for a small 5k in Druid Hill Park, followed by our first annual Team TWSS picnic. Mix in some baseball games and you've got yourself a great weekend.