Monday, July 9, 2007

4 x 1000

I got up this morning at 0530 and ran 4 x 1000 at the track. It was 73 with 73% humidity and winds SW 4 mph. I ran a mile warm-up in 8:19 and a mile of strides in 7:55. I took a few minutes to stretch out and started the meat of my workout. The goal today was to run each repeat in 3:51 and jog 600 meters for a recovery between reps.

#1. 3:51.98 (3:30.33)
#2. 3:51.93 (3:36.44)
#3. 3:50.62 (3:37.38)
#4. 3:50.75 (1:13.01 200m. jog back to starting point)

I felt pretty good throughout the workout and didn't get any of the shoulder tightness that has plagued me for the last few weeks. I was reading an article about Emil Zatopek and he always ran with his thumbs lightly pressed against his index or middle fingers as he ran to keep his upper body relaxed. I have been doing it for the last week or so and it seems to help. It might just be in my head but I didn't fall apart at the Premier Bank 5k and I felt pretty relaxed today so I'm going to continue doing it.

Tomorrow I am going to run an easy five and hope it doesn't rain so we can take Nathan to the water park for his birthday. We have to wrap his last few presents tonight so we can surprise him tomorrow. Little kids are fun because it doesn't take much to surprise them.

We watched "Bridge to Terebithia" last night and it was just as sad at the age of 29 as it was when I was 10 and read the book. My allergies started bothering me towards the end and I got something in my eye but I'm okay now. Tonight we're going to watch "Norbet" or whatever it is with Eddie Murphy in the fat woman suit. If it sucks I'll post it on the blog.

5 comments:

mainou said...

Is there any way that movie cannot suck? I expect an entry ASAP.

Aaron said...

Well, the movie won't be winning any Oscars or Golden Globes but it didn't suck as bad as I thought it was going to. Eddie Murphy plays three characters, the protagonist, Rasputia and Mr. Wong. There are moments in the first half hour that are really quite funny as long as you like INCREDIBLY stupid humor but it fizzles pretty hard in the last half. There is a pretty funny scene involving Rasputia getting into her car and accusing Norbett of adjusting the seat because she is honking the horn with her "t---ies." My wife was very amused at that.

All in all, I'm glad I didn't waste $17 going to the theater to see it. I also don't desire to have the $2.80 and 90 minutes of my life it took to watch returned to me.

Two movies that have invoked that response in me were "Powder" about an albino telepath, and "Freddy Got Fingered," a Tom Green production. I always disliked Tom Green and I'm not sure what made me want to see that movie.

Nate M. said...

While I'm all for emulating the great ones, wasn't Zatopek renowned for his notoriously UNrelaxed form? ;-)

My favorite story about him relates to his win in the 1952 Olympic Marathon in Helsinki. Having never run a marathon, he is said to have asked the leaders "Iz de pace fast enough?" before dropping them on his way to his historic triple.

Aaron said...

I've always read that Zatopek looked "tortured" when he ran. I guess we could argue semantics and say that people being tortured are usually not relaxed. The tip seems to be working for me though as I didn't tense up during my race the other day.

I like that story about Zatopek too. I also found it amusing that he would carry his javelin throwing wife on his back during 400 meter repeats.

He was a crazy dude and I think he even served time in the Uranium Mines for speaking out about the Communist government.

Nate M. said...

Zatopek also spent time under house arrest for his political views. Unable to leave his apartment, he'd spend hours running in place... at least that's what a high school cross country coach from Indiana told me 12 or 13 years ago.

Have you ever read Tim Noakes' The Lore of Running. It may be the most influential book I'e ever read. I first read it as a senior in high school. To that point, I had little interest in the sciences, although I had always enjoyed math. 100 pages or so of Noakes' book are are devoted to physiology, kinesiology, and mechanics, and another 150 pages or so are devoted to running injuries. That book was really the reason that I took my first biology class in college (an introductory molecular biology of the cell course), and taking that first biology class shaped everything that has followed. But I digress. I mention the book because it includes a number of good quotes from great runners, including several from Zatopek himself. He may be my favorite runner of all-time, although it's splitting hairs between many of the greats.