Sunday, August 05, 2007

LSD

Long Slow Distance is a running term coined in 1969 as Joe Henderson was looking an alternative to training that was simply known as "PTA - Pain, Torture and Agony". The objective of these types of runs are to build blood volume, increase muscle strength, endurance and aerobic fitness while being done at about 1-3 minutes slower than your normal pace.

All that hoo-ha aside, I was just damm tired today. Long run on Friday, followed by Kickball with the Sex Panthers, a yoga/weight/core workout Saturday morning, and the Combine Demo Derby last night, left me less than enthusiastic about getting some miles in. Maybe it is the accumulating effect of the training or I am just in a bit of a funk, or tired, but I thought that if I was running today it was gonna be LSD.

Simple objective was to make it to the MIL's (Mother in Law's) where Dirrty Girl was baking by late afternoon and keep the heartrate below 70%, mileage and time not being of a concern. Ipod rocking, hand held bottle filled, and my fanny pack filled with essentials off I plodded.

There is something to be said at just plodding along with no concern to pace or route. I just took my time covering a route that I would normally never consider and at a pace that first felt like i was moving through mud, but soon enough gave way to an easy plodding that felt like i could have run all day. In the end, I covered just over 9 miles, found $.10, but I actually felt better than when I started and was looking forward to the rest of the week of training!!

2 comments:

Timothy Finkelstein said...

I'm at the same place right now with turning the cranks. The running has given me a good focus shift and has me excited! Thanks for the plan. It coincides well with the advice from the Runner's World article this month.

Brian Thomas said...

I like the idea of the LSD stuff. I should put down my GPS one of these days so that I stop watching my time so carefully.

I don't think I'm going to make it to the training run this weekend. The drive is a little too far from Freeland. If you're going, good luck and I hope to hear about the trail conditions!