Near Death Experience
After coming to grips with the fact that Crazy-Haruki may never consider me a “serious runner” I turned to very “serious runner” Reid Coolsaet to see if I could manage one of his workouts.
Day 59 of 130
Ks covered:387
Ks to go: 715
General mood: Fatigued
Running highlight: Finishing Reid Coolsaet’s “typical” workout
Equipment status: Functioning
Body status: Left knee still twinging
Weight: 145
Holy F-bomb. I am so tired I can hardly type.
After coming to grips with the fact that Crazy-Haruki may never consider me a “serious runner” I thought I’d take a different tack. So, I turned to very “serious runner” (okay so he’s pro) and fellow blogger, Reid Coolsaet to see if I could manage one of his workouts.
Upon reflection, this probably wasn’t the greatest idea as Reid could lap Crazy-H in a marathon.
Reid e-mailed me two of his typical workouts:
His five-miler: “5km warm-up, light stretching and a few strides, 5 X 1600m on a track with 5 minutes rest between each interval followed by 5km cool-down at 10km race pace.”
His road workout: “4 x 10 minutes with 2 minutes rest (also 5km warmup and cool-down) at a half marathon race pace.”
Because I didn’t want the ambulance sirens to frighten the local high school kids, I decided to stay away from my local track and see if I was road-worthy by Reid’s standards. Plus, I thought, 40 minutes? I can do that… then I noticed the extra 10k “warm-up/cool down” (Show-off!) Reid had in brackets and realized this “typical” workout would take me almost two-hours and cover almost 20K.
The good news? I did finish the workout. And, I didn’t even cheat.
The bad news? It was tough. Really, gut-bustingly tough. In that last 5K, I’m sure I heard Morgan Freeman calling to me over the faint sound of harps; “Run toward the light Becky. Run toward the light…”
Here’s the breakdown:
5k warmup:
Reid – 22:00
Me – 28:45
10 minutes x 4 :
Reid – 3 min/K pace
Me – 5 min/K pace (which is actually faster than my half marathon pace, but as close as I could possibly get to Reid’s)
5k cool-down:
Reid – 22 min
Me – 29:50
Total distance:
Reid: 24K
Me: 19K
Total time:
Reid: 1:30
Me: 1:50
Reid:
Me:
For the mathematically challenged, please note that in his average workout Reid runs 5K more than me in 20 minutes less time…. I can’t even imagine how gory it would be on race day.
On the plus side, having been through my near death experience, I find myself strangely at one with the world and at peace with nature. My last trip to the bathroom, I swear I nearly levitated.
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