“Maybe if I had done some workouts
I would have got first, but I’m not gonna do that.
I’ll just get second.”

— rachel entrekin, contemplating speedwork

—

We have officially entered the land of double-digit temperatures again, which can mean only one thing: The return of Lasso Days.

I had my first major disagreement with Coach Ratched today over whether running myself into oblivion is a good idea. My coach is clinging to the notion that one should recover from big mileage weeks, as opposed to the more logical solution, adding even more miles.

I ran it by my brother Mike, who’s way smarter than me, and he agrees with Ratched’s analysis. I think he’s scared of HIS coach, and afraid the coaches will speak with each other. He’s a computer guy. He knows stuff.

But there’s the thing. I’m just plodding along, not pushing the pace at all, quite content to come in second, or second to last. This causes little stress and requires much less recovery than for those who “run” and do those “session” things. I think I have a lot of miles in me. TSB — whatever that is — like age, is just a number.

But Coach Ratched is insistent on waiting for the recovery numbers to improve.

The dirty secret: I don’t think they ever will. September will be hard, October will be totally bat-crazy insane, and then there’s the 48-hour race in November and Across the Years at the end of December. Why give the body a false sense of security now? We’re NEVER going to recover. And that’s sort of the point.

Maybe if I took some days off I would have gotten first.

But I’m not gonna do that.

I’m going to go farther and farther, getting slower and slower, becoming happier and happier.

I think what Rachel Entrekin is saying is that you have to do what’s best for you, even if it’s not going by the book. Sometimes it’s better to skip the book altogether and wait for the movie to come out.

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer,” Thoreau said. “Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

Sorry, Coach Ratched. I have this music in my head. And it keeps getting louder. Or maybe that light at the end of the tunnel is a train.

Whatever. Lasso Days, here we come …