Going slow

There is a whole lot I don’t know about the so-called recovery day. For instance, is it a recovery day if one runs slow or does it have to do with volume and intensity? There are many schools of thought on the issue, I’m sure. But after doing a slow effort as a recovery run, it’s the volume and not the intensity for me.

Here’s what happened:

After feeling a bit tired and burnt after piling up the miles, culminating with an 18-miler in the snow on Tuesday, an easy, easy day was the call for Wednesday. The fact was a day off or a quick five-miler would have been the best course of action, but something I read in Michael Sandrock’s Running Tough piqued my interest.

In the introduction to the section about recovery runs, Sandrock wrote about a time when as an undergrad at Colorado he had a chance to run with the Frank Shorter. Oddly enough, though, during the run Shorter never ran faster than a trot and Sandrock found himself being unnerved by this. Was he in better shape than the great Frank Shorter? Why was he going so slow?

He learned why Frank was taking his time the next day during an interval workout, when Sandrock was left sucking wind and sitting on the sidelines as the Olympian tore through a very difficult session. The message, of course, was that Shorter was going easy, easy so he could go as hard as possible when he needed to.

The story got me to thinking, which is always a dangerous proposition. Instead of an easy day 5-miler or complete rest, why don’t I go for a trot? It could be invigorating or something… why not?

Let’s just say that all runners are different. Nope, you didn’t need me to point out this, but it’s true. Some of the things that work for Frank Shorter might not work for me. Or maybe it’s just because I really disliked holding myself back and resting up that it drove me nuts. Maybe I was doing what was right for me all along?

What do I do? I run medium-hard nearly every day. One day I go long and another day I go short and fast. That’s the plan anyway. Sure, some people smarter than me have proven that by running medium-hard all the time means that a runner will turn in a medium-hard performance on race day instead of a fast one. Yeah, I understand that. But on my medium-hard days I run up hills, down hills, fartlek, surges, strides and whatever else I can squeeze into a 15-miler or whatever. Sometimes I even do 3x5-miles or 5x1-miles. I mix it all up. Maybe it works, maybe I should re-evaluate… I don’t know. The point is I enjoy it – I don’t like taking it easy.

So instead of a medium-hard runner, perhaps I’m a gumbo runner? Since I like to mix it up as much as possible corning the term seems like the most apt description. And who knows, maybe one day I’ll be a fast runner again. We’ll see.

Wednesday, Feb.13
10 miles of slow recovery in 1:17:43
Last 7 days: 112 miles
Resting heart rate: 42
Cough: unbearable

Thursday, Feb. 14
1st run – 15 miles in 1:41:17 – felt tired in the beginning, but strong and good at the end
2nd run – 5 miles in 36:44 – it was slow, but it was all I had
Last 7 days: 112 miles
Resting heart rate: 49
Cough: I took a Sudafed… don’t tell the doping control boards.