Easy Does It

After arriving to work on Monday to hear, "See Senior Partner. All hell's broken loose," from the secretary before even a hello, my rest day Monday wasn't really all that restful. Tuesday didn't really improve things. So, despite several requests from Erin to go to the Philharmonic's performance on Central Park's the Great Lawn, I was really in no mood. I was in such a funk that I really thought that I'd strangle the first person to look at me cross-wise, and with the amount of wine I expected to be present, that'd probably happen way too quickly. In short, I was going to be absolutely no fun. Besides, despite its being a relatively short day, the concert started at 8 and I didn't leave the office until 8:30 anyway. (We'll go for sushi this weekend to make up for it, E)

So, I hit the gym for my tempo run (at 90 degrees at 8:30p, outside was not happening) that I'd skipped that morning with the theory that beating up some miles would be better than taking out my bad mood on someone else, like Erin when she got home. And after hammering out 8 miles, with 4.25 at 6:45 pace I felt much better about myself. It's good to accomplish goals and that's one of the nice things about running. Everything else may be a whirlwind, but I can meet at least one goal. So, hopefully that feeling of accomplishment will carry over into the next few days.

Another benefit to last night's run was that it made today's easy run really an easy run. Today's route was the Billy-burg Bridge O&B, for 5 miles in 39:30. However, with only 12 hours off since my T-run, I really had no desire or ability to run it much faster. So, it was squarely within (okay, a little faster) "easy" pace. It was . . . pleasant. Of course, the fact that it was only about 70 degrees I'm sure contributed immensely to my good feelings towards today's run.

In other news, yesterday was huge for Le Tour. The route finished on L’Alpe d’Huez, probably the most famous climb on the Tour. It was on this climb where Lance actually passed Ivan Basso (who had a 2 minute head start!) in a time trial in 2004; it's a stage in which reputations are made. Anyway, this year wasn't a time trial, but when the peloton exploded on the lead-in hills it created numerous opportunities for strategy amongst the leaders, as rider after rider from the breakaway group dropped back (while recovering) to meet up with and pace their gc men. A strong finish amongst some young riders who hung on after the breakaway (giving some return morale to Team CSC after the disastrous disqualification of Ivan Basso), fantastic team strategic riding, jockeying for position and time amongst the g.c. leaders and the claiming of a 10s lead over Pereiro for Landis to reclaim the Yellow Jersey, just a fantastic race.

Speaking of Landis, the guy may be my new hero for this interview quote, provided courtesy of Zeke:

"Everybody wants to say, 'I couldn't win because of this or that,' " he says. "To my way of thinking, it doesn't matter if your goddamn head fell off or your legs exploded. If you didn't make it, you didn't make it. One excuse is as good as another."

Landis takes a sip and leans forward in his chair. "There's only one rule: The guy who trains the hardest, the most, wins. Period. Because you won't die. Even though you feel like you'll die, you don't actually die. Like when you're training, you can always do one more. Always. As tired as you might think you are, you can always, always do one more."

Tuesday: 8 miles in 58:30, 4.25 at 6:45/mile.
Wednesday: 5 miles in 39:30, 7:54/mile.