Sweaty Gnut Sak

Hello all.

Welcome to another blog by another guy, in this case me.

I'll skip the introduction, since you can find that in the top right corner and I don't want to insult your intelligence any more than my insane ramblings (to follow) will.

Today I began training for my first ever marathon. I'm using the Pierce, Murr and Moss book Run Less, Run Faster.

I think that I am in pretty good shape, all things considered. I have several reasons for such assumptions.

- I am in the army, and train excessively throughout the year.

- I was a wrestler in high school and had unending endurance.

- I am stubborn, and I feel that quality is in some way athletic.

So you can understand how it feels to have my ass handed to me by three simple miles.

Today I ran what is called Key Workout #1 for week 16 (the weeks count backwards to marathon day). I did a 10 minute warm-up, followed by three miles as a solid pace, finishing off with another 10 minutes cool-down.

Here's what happened.

My intended pace was 7:21 per mile.

First Mile: 7:27

I started off great, but around the third quarter-mile my compression shorts started sliding down a bit. My running shorts were resting comfortably on my hips, but my undershorts found their way to my knees. I can't explain how, but it happened.

Second Mile: 7:32

Now I'm running ten seconds behind my pace time and I'm sucking wind. I start to think I can't perform these workouts as intended and I'm getting very demotivated.

Third Mile: 7:21

I get pissed off at the track, the wind, and my own failing lungs and go balls out for 4 minutes. I realized I'd covered more track than before and slowed down to a more manageable pace and finished right on time.

After my cool down I realized just how sweaty I had become. It was pretty serious.

I have at least proven to myself that I can make the pace, if only once. Now I need to make that my only pace.

And I need new shorts.