TITLE: To Tell the Truth
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: July 12, 2006 5:40 PM
DESC:
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BODY:
This morning I was thinking about a game show from
my youth,
To Tell the Truth
(not the
1953 version!).
In this game, "a person of some notoriety and two
impostors try to match wits with a panel of four
celebrities". The goal of the celebrity panel was
to identify the 'real person' and ferret out the
impostors.
Why would a thirty-year-old game show come to mind
on a hazy July morning? The track was doing its
best to determine if I was an impostor or the
real McCoy.
I think I passed my first test of the training
season.
The
Twin Cities Marathon
takes place on October 1, so I have just under 12
weeks to prepare. Last week I bumped my weekly
mileage up into the low- to mid-40s, and this
week I began a 12-week "can't fail" training plan
by running coach
Bob Williams
that I found in an old Runner's World magazine.
Now generally, I'm no better at sticking to
someone else's training plan than I am sticking
to someone else's
textbook;
I like to tinker with the plan, make it conform
to my schedule and a bit to my expectations. This
year isn't much different, with one exception:
I intend to follow Williams's speed workouts as
closely as I can. His plan calls for one workout
of short, fast repeats each week or so, and one
workout of longer repeats every other week or so,
with tempo runs in the alternate weeks. Today,
I ran speed workout #1, 5x800m repeats at roughly
5K pace. I managed 3:13-3:15 per half-mile on this fine
day, but only after I spent my warm-up miles
wondering if I had what it took to run repeats
today.
The plan I selected for this season is unusual in
another way, one that doesn't demonstrate the sort
of humility that has
cropped up in my recent writing:
I opted for the "advanced" program. Many training
plans for 5Ks, halfs, and marathons come in three
flavors, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I
have always gone with the intermediate plan, but this
year I was honest with myself; by the recommendation
of the coaches, I am ready for the advanced plan.
For example, Williams's plan says "Typically this
person has completed at least three marathons and
has run consistently for three years or more."
Check and check. Note that this precondition says
nothing about the runner's speed or goal time; it
depends only on the person's ability to work up to
a sufficient mileage and handle speed workouts at
a runner-specific pace. I'm ready for that.
One thing I like about running, which has popped up
from time to time in this blog, is the accountability
it exacts from us. It's impossible to be an impostor
in this game. Eventually, the road or track finds you
out. It lets your body know that you've been found
out, and your body tells your mind. The feedback
comes immediately, in the form of aches and pains and
fatigue, and over the long haul, in the form of
persistent fatigue and injury. So we do end up
facing the need for humility after all, but also a
challenge to stretch and grow.
For one day at least I am the real guy. Let's see
if I am found to be an impostor by 11:30 AM or so
on October 1.
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