Thursday, January 22, 2009

Staying Warm & Warming Up


It’s been cold here, plain and simple. Every morning the temperature is just damn cold. 15 degrees, 14 degrees…last Saturday it was just A degree. Sometimes my cheeks feel as if they’re being cut with razor blades. It seems like we might rise above the freezing mark today or tomorrow, which will be a great thing. Tomorrow the high could be as high as 50!
I ran 10 last evening with Bain and did 8 x 1:00 on/off on the CCT. It’s hard to judge just how fast we’re going but I think we were 5:0X pace. I need to do “B” workouts like this more often. As I noted last night, these workouts at least gets the run over with faster.

This morning I ran 10+ down to the Walter Reid add-on trails. The sky and forest were both gray and cold. Not many people around. Started at 7:00 pace and timed a couple sub-6:15s on the way home. My hip was a little tender this morning. I’ve noticed it “creeping up” on me lately, but not really doing anything. It’s like hearing an army move into position just over the ridge, but then not doing anything…will they attack?

If you’re interested, The Washington Running Report did a story on me for their current issue. The link is below:
http://www.runwashington.com/features/profileklim08.html

They have a number of interesting reads on DC-area runners here. Definitely worth checking out: http://www.runwashington.com/features/runnerprofilelist.html
Below is a section from a Nick Gramsky interview. This really typifies the commitment needed to excel in this sport:

Running under Centro was ridiculous. I call him the "Bobby Knight of Track and Field." He's very intense. What he says is simple but genius. There's no complex plan--just run, run hard and don't race until you're ready. All I did was run. Work came second. Life came third. He once told me before I left for a wedding "Do I think you're a bad person? No. Do I think you'll do the workout I give you? Yes. Do you think it will be the same? No. Will you work as well by yourself? No. You'll lose footing. Stay in town."

2 comments:

Daniel Weston said...

Hi, I read your blog most days. Great article about you. Keep up the good work. Daniel.

RM said...

I meant to make fun of you for that article...ha! Actually it was pretty cool to see.

This winter's been funny; It has been cold, but more than that there's been no break. The last few Januarys there have always been a few days in the 60s, and many days above 40. This cold has beat down my will to ride my bike outside, and as a result I've taken the time to run more. It's actually been a good thing.