Friday, January 9, 2009

Why Apollo, you ask?

So after my last post many of you are probably thinking "Why did he name his Garmin virtual training parter? And why Apollo of all things?"

It may seem obvious that this is a reference to the Apollo of Greek mythology and the Pythian games held In his honor and the fact that he was an accomplished runner (even though the fact that he was the son of Zeus surely helped him out with this). While this may seem obvious, it would be wrong.

See I was thinking of another Apollo. An Apollo perhaps even more recognized than the Apollo of myth.
Who could this be, you ask? Who could possibly surplant the Apollo of legend, nay, of myth?

Apollo Creed.

You see, Apollo Creed was the trainer who helped Rocky defeat the vaunted (though by their second bout, softened by his celebrity status) Clubber Lang. Sure, he was no Mick, but he gave Rocky the one tool he needed to defeat Clubber.

The Eye of the Tiger. The will to survive. To recover the passion he had lost and needed to regain in order to defeat his nemesis. Clearly you can put the analogy in place from here, no?

Alhough at this point the analogy really falls apart, because by the second bout Rocky had already been beaten by Clubber (Clubber clearly being the marathon in the scenario). I've yet to be deafeated by the marathon, and am counting on Apollo to never let that happen in the first
place.

Anyway, runs this week so far:

On Tuesday I ran a tempo run on the treadmill. 3 miles at a 1% incline at a 9:40 pace. Felt good, yet a bit challenging. A bit of shin pain, but nothing to write home about.

Thursday I ran 5 miles (again on my old friend, the treadmill. It's just so dark and cold by the time I get arou d to running). Did this run at a bit easier pace (10:54), but still faster than my goal race pace. Kept the 1% incline, and felt REALLY good afterwards. Like I could have kept on coin for quite awhile. One weird thing, though. For the first 3.5 miles there was some pain ( more discomfort than pain really) but after that point it went away. Weird, huh?

Anyway, I have an easy 3 miler tonight and then a 10 miler on tap for Sunday. I'll let you all know how those go.

Oh,yeah. And I hit the 500 mile mark on my Nike+. How awesome is that?

4 comments:

Kris said...

Damn...I was sure it was a Battlestar reference. :-)

Rob said...

Really, though. I mean B.A. (Battlestar Apollo, not to be confused with B.A. Baracus, yet another Mr. T reference :-) ) would get his tail wupped by Apollo Creed. I mean he got a beating from Starbuck for crying out loud. Starbuck is cool, no doubt, but she's no Creed.

Kris said...

Good point. I think I just have Battlestar on the brain since it comes back next week. I hope we kick Apollo's ass on April 11. :-)

moonmaiden said...

So, a Jedi Knight you are becoming?
HUMMMMM? Sorry-bad Yoda impression.
Sounds like you are challenging yourself...good job!!! Keep up the good work. Remember, the Moonmaiden is watching over you!
Lots of love.