Am I a Man or am I a Muppet?

Our girls really enjoyed the recently released Muppet movie and are especially fond of Jason Siegel's song from the movie "Am I a Man? Or am I a Muppet?" 



I found myself singing this to myself today as I took the decision to not run in tomorrow's Cary Road Race 10K......        Did I make a sensible decision or am I a giant wuss?

As documented in yesterday's blog post, I have been experiencing some lower back pain and also turned my ankle during a run.    Today I went for a short "test run" to see how things felt.   I had absolutely no problem running at a slow to moderate pace, but as soon as I took it up to race pace my back started to give me some discomfort.

I fretted a little about what to do, but in the end I decided not to run the 10K.   I think I could probably have run the course at a moderate pace without too much problem, but I really didn't see much point in going out and just running the distance - I can do that at home - I want to race!   On top of that, of course, there's always the chance that I could aggrevate things, so discretion is the best part of valor!  

A good decision?   I think so (and The Puppeteer agrees)....    maybe not all that manly, but I'm not a  Muppet either.   If I was, I would probably be this guy....

Wocka, wocka, wocka!

Curse you Greg McMillan!

So I'm signed-up for the Cary Road Race 10K this coming Saturday.......

Usually I would be really looking forward to it.  It's forecast to be a beautiful morning and it's a nice gently rolling course around the Koka Booth amphitheatre in Cary, NC. http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Parks__Recreation___Cultural_Resources/Sports/Sports_Events_and_Tournaments/Cary_Road_Race.htm

I feel a little "un prepared" for this one for some reason.  In general my running has been down a little (I wish I could say the same for my weight!) since my calf injury back in December, so I'm not sure what sort of performance to expect.   It's just an early season warm-up - certainly not an "A" race - but never-the-less I hate the thought of putting in anything other than a good effort.   I asked The Puppeteer whether I should haved a target time or pace in mind and she basically said that I should "run by feel" and that 8:30 to 8:45 pace should be fine.

As a double check, I checked Greg McMillan's well known running site at http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/ where you can use a calculator to plug in previous times at various distances and get an estimate of what time you should be taking to run other distances (assuming that you're doing the right training).  For "fun" I plugged in my half marathon time from last November (1:57:37) and it spat out a 10K time of 52:51 (8:30 pace).   OK, so at the faster end of what The Puppeteer estimated, but roughly aligned.   I then plugged in my 5K time for last years Dios de los Muertos race (22:49) and it spat out a 10K estimate of 47:26 (7:37 pace)....    Yikes!    There's no way I will be able to get anywhere near that!   I cut myself some slack for not having been able to run hard over the winter, but really Greg McMillan....    you have to make me feel that inadequate!   :-)



The bottom line, of course, is that it's early season and I will go out and use it as a rough guide for where I am at the moment and, hopefully, as a springboard for greater things.  I need to get focused before Saturday though!

Unfortunately, to add to my joy, I now have two more nagging annoyances to deal with (no, not The Snitch and Compass!).   I was working in our corporate offices in NJ earlier this week and noticed an annoying "twinge" in my lower back.   I know that it wasn't caused by any particular workout - perhaps those ridiculously tiny airline seats on regional jets?   On top of that, I was walking to cool down after a short run earlier today and an idiot in a truck came barreling towards me while not paying attention and talking on the phone.  I saw him coming and hopped-up on to the grass verge, only to turn my left ankle.  Damn, damn, damn!   As I sit here typing this I can still feel it, but hopefully a session on the bike trainer tonight and a good nights rest will stretch it out and have it feeling better in the morning - we'll see!

On the plus side of all of this.....    you'll all be able to have a good laugh when I post my race report!  :-)

Still alive and kicking

As I sit here in Nags Head, NC on a very wet and windy Good Friday, secretly thankful that today appears as a rest day on Training Peaks, it occurs to me that it has been waaay too long since I posted to my blog.   The last post was back in early March and it has been a pretty busy time since then.

Overall, I would say that training has been going well.  There has been no recurrance of my calf injury and my swim continues to improve.  My first race of the season (White Lake, NC) is just a month away now and I have a "warm-up" at the Cary 10K road race next weekend.  The calf issue and some typical "winter bugs" slowed things down early in the year, but more recently things have been going well.

I spent a very busy week working in the UK a couple of weeks back.  It featured a lot of early starts and working into the evenings, so it was definitely a light week for training.  I did manage some time on the bike in the gym; a short run around a very fancy golf course and a muddy six mile hike where I managed to get lost in the magnificent Cheshire countryside and ended up getting followed by a large group of about twenty (thankfully friendly) horses!  On the plus side, I did get to stay at this place......



Mottram Hall, Cheshire, UK

 Last weekend was a highlight as I attended Spring Tri Camp hosted by TriStacey and Evolve Multisport.   The Puppeteer and coach Marisa Carter put on a great event held in and around Chapel Hill.  I learned a lot and made some new friends.  Yoga class was interesting, but the highlight of the weekend for me was a great ride in the rain on the Saturday morning.   I don't often get to ride in big groups, so that in itself was fun, but the ride also featured a 10 mile time trial over rolling terrain (~30 mins) and hill repeat work on Borland Road.   Fun!

Trying to look cool at Tri Camp

The weekend also featured a track workout at UNC, a recovery run, two swim sessions at Homestead Aquatic Center and lots of talks and lectures.   Thanks coaches Stacey and Marisa for a great time!

Who said coaches don't have lots of teeth?   Marisa and Stacey looking happy at UNC track. 

Now it's time to really focus over the next four weeks and get ready for "Revenge at White Lake"....    those of you who read about last years escapades will know what I mean....     I'm excited that the season is finally here!