No Freebies

My name is Joshua Pauley. And I am not willing to let someone get a day up on me.

Dallas got hit with a “bad” storm this past week. I put “bad” in quotation marks because I understand that in other states and training environments this would not have been considered much out of the ordinary. But here when there is an ice storm of this magnitude – things go a little bit crazy.  Schools are cancelled.  Supervisors do not come to work.  Athletes sleep in. And runners hit the treadmill.

Mary and I escaped the storm right in time by going to my hometown of Tyler (about two hours east of Dallas) Thursday night.  We did not get in though until roughly 2 a.m. Friday morning. I felt that this warranted sleeping in a little bit. If you know me then you understand why this is a big deal. I don’t typically sleep in.  I’m one of those “The early bird gets the worm” and all that jazz type of guys. My roommates and past teammates can also testify to this as well. I love running in the morning.

The storm that was pounding DFW had missed Tyler, and we were just left with rain.  So I slept in and hit up the trails at Faulkner Park. It’s a nice little trail, not to technical, but not necessarily simple either. The trail’s loop is roughly 6.5 miles and I recommend paying it a visit if you are ever in the Tyler/East Texas area.  I ended up having a pretty solid recovery run.

Saturday morning rolls around and I have a long run workout scheduled (14 miles continuous: after 5 miles 2x (2miles w/1 mile recovery) + 4 miles easy). Unfortunately I did not pack very well and left my warmest running clothes back at my apartment.  I stepped outside at 6 am, preparing to kill this run, only to be slapped in the face with wind and twenty-five degree temperatures.  Like a wimp I tucked tail and went back inside thinking “Oh I’m going back to Dallas later today, I’ll just do it then since I’ll have better clothes.” MISTAKE!

I left Mary with my parents and I headed back to DBU for work and to run. I get to DBU and the entire place is iced over.  It was so bad in fact that it took me fifteen minutes to walk to work (usually it only takes me five). There was no way I could run outside.  I could barely step outside of my car.  Some people suggested I just take my loss and head back to Tyler after work to avoid more bad weather. Others suggested that I do it on a treadmill. I decided I would attempt it on the treadmill. 

Icy Stairs at DBU.
Photo credit: Jacob Setser

This is a big move for me as well. I hate treadmills. And although fourteen miles is not really all that far – that’s a ways to go on a treadmill. So after getting off work I begin the walk back to my apartment.  While attempting to walk down stairs that are covered in ice; I slipped.  Not only did I slip but I fell all the way down an entire flight of stairs (16 to be exact).  I eventually stood up and the only thought I had was “WOW I’m alive!!!!!” That is probably one of the most dangerous accidents I have ever had.  I am very blessed that I was not seriously injured.  But now my leg and hip was all bruised up right before my run. Sweet way to start my evening off. 

I hopped on the treadmill and began to dabble away at my chore.  I covered up the monitor so I would not have to be so interested in pace the entire time (my goal is to run tempos at an effort – not a pace). Things come and go. And I survive. I got better that day. 

Dallas Baptist University.
Photo credit: Mariel Flores

It would have been easier just to say “Oh, I didn’t get it in this morning. I guess I will just take today off.” But as I pounded away on the treadmill I thought to myself, “Timothy Olson is getting better today. Sage Canaday is getting better today. Rob Krar is getting better today. I don’t want to give these guys this day.” Because had I done what was convenient and easier, and not ran, guys I want to beat would’ve gotten a day up on me.  And I’m not good enough to give these guys freebies like that. I need every day I can get. They’re working their butts off – everyone is. And I’ve got to do the same. 

The winter is a hard time to train. And by the looks of it – things are not going to be easy these next couple of months (weather wise). That cannot be an excuse though - because someone is always working.  Someone is always getting better.  But at the end of the day I am going to have to ask myself, “Did I get better today?” 

Training notes from these past two weeks:

Week of 11/25-12/1:  Just eased back into things. Thirty to forty-five minutes daily. Pretty simple stuff.

Week of 12/2-12/8:

Pretty “chill” week (pun intended) at 70 miles total.  Did not integrate Tuesday hill repeats in on this week, still was easing back into it. Saturday’s LR workout went well. I went 11:14 and 11:07 with the recovery mile somewhere between 6:30-6:40 (total time was somewhere around 1:33-1:35. I am not too sure because the treadmill was giving me a hard time). Had I done this workout on the roads like I was originally intending my goal was between 5:35-5:45. I got in a good effort and finished strong. Sunday’s LR was on the trails. An hour easy followed by thirty minutes of two minutes up and one minute down and then finishing with fifteen minutes cool down. That was a pretty sweet workout. I look forward to doing more workouts on the trails as the training progresses.  I believe learning to run fast and hard on technical trails will come in handy later down the road.

-One thing I did well this week was I got in all the little things ie: core and weight routine.

**Do better for next week: Do a better job of staying hydrated. I am kind of lazy with this.  

Thanks for reading and showing an interest in what I have been up too. Hang in there folks!

~Bump the Lamp,

  JP