Renewed Vigor

For the last few weeks I have battled with the desire to train.

I was starting my workouts with the best of intentions. The desire to work hard would quickly fade, and I was left with a less-than-stellar training session.

Well, that was all until this past weekend. I had a great ride going on Saturday when toward the end I got dropped on the lakefront path by a 40-something on an older Trek hard tail. Time to prevent that from happening again.

Sunday came with Tim leading my run workout. According to Tim via Jack Daniels, my VDOT is 48 leading to a 7:02 threshold pace at mile intervals. Tim decided we'd meet at the track downtown and run mile repeats at 7 minutes with 1 minute rest.

It's safe to say that was hard enough to make me realize I'm not training the way I need to be. He kicked my ass, then made me ride some hills down by Soldier Field before we could rest.

Yesterday I followed the VDOT training again and did 7 miles just off of my predicted marathon pace (7:32). It felt good even though I started with sore legs.

Either way, this blog starts my VDOT training. As of today that number is 48 via Jack Daniels. The goal by the first XTERRA of '08? VDOT of 54. That would estimate my 5k time at 18:40, 10k of 38:42, and 1/2 marathon at 1:25:40. We'll see what a winter of scheduled, strict, and intense run training can do for a guy that would never classify himself as a runner.

Oh, and a big thanks to Tim in advance for some good '08 XTERRA finishes....I can already see what this winter may bring.