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Today's targeted session with the group was a 3 set series of intervals that consisted of 1 min, 2min and 3 min on times with a 1 min not so on pace in between. This is one of our typical post race workouts. The group this past weekend ran a very difficult 10K that consisted of some MONSTER hills. I did a base workout where I alternated 5 min sets of my 10K and HM paces for 30 minutes. Not nearly as difficult since mine was on a relatively flat course, but still a good workout nonetheless since I probably went at 5K and 10K pace after looking at the data. And the way my legs felt yesterday, nothing like a nice day to clean out the junk!

So when I got to the meeting point at Coyote Trail, I actually felt much better then the day before. As I posted yesterday, my legs were having an off day and just plain felt dead. Today, they felt crisp and ready for a good run. We took of as a single group today and did 2 sets out, and one set back, which left a nice miles and a half jog back to the car. The weather was absolutely PERFECT this morning. Shorts, short sleeve shirt, and glove to keep the hands warm weather. At the start I took off great, managed to run with Scott who kept about 5 yards ahead of me the first couple of sets on the way out. I totally boned up and hit the wrong button on my watch for the start, so I had to wait it out till the second set to start it....uggghhh. hat it when that happens. No wirries there though, I was boxed around by Scott in front and Butch right behind me, so I could hear the starts and stops. I have NO idea how fast I ran those first fet reps, but I'm guessing the were sub 7 since my second set was right at the 7 min/mile marker. I always run faster on the first set and get progressivley slower after settling into a comfortable pace. And when I looked at the 3 min average on the second set, that explains why Butch gained ground and passed me. No biggie there, the fact is....I'm running these workouts at a pace I've never been able to hold. Paul and I set out two sets of goals....Short term was to get to where we could last an entire workout with the Butch groupers. Long term goal, and a bit more lofty, hang with the Big Dogs.....Dave, Todd, Steve, Shawn....That's definitiely a long term route there. Those guys are in a totally different zip code when it comes to running. And they are runningn a totally crazy amount of miles right now. Something I would LOVE to be doing. I'm going to give myself 6-12 months to attain that one, and right now focus on hanging with Butch and Glenn (when he shows up), and get sub 3:30 on my marathon time. These I think are totally doable. And along the way, increase my base mileage to that 60-70 miles per week zone. Looking back in retrospect, getting to 60 should be NO PROBLEMO! Shoot, increase my long run to 22 miles that's 51 right there, then sprinkle in 9 miles over the other 5 days....that's less then 2 miles per day. And realistically, that's going to come on the Thursday workouts by itself. Eventually, I'll be running 10-12 miles on those workouts. I intend to start doing mile repeats on Thursdays. Start at five or 6, and work my way up to 10, all at my targeted marathon pace. I need to get my legs grinding that pace.....The over and over repetition of a single pace is what I need. It's going to make the day when the BIG day gets here in January.

So in the books right now, on this rest week, I've got 14.6 miles. Saturday is going to be at least 5, I may push it to 6 or 7 with the warm-up and cool down. It's a 30 minute tempo that I'm really going to PUSH HARD. I actually think instead of taking tomorrow off completely, I'll sleep in a bit till 5, get up, and go do a 3.5 miler. Nothing hard, but enough to keep the legs fresh for Saturday AM. That would put me at 18 plus the 5 on Saturday and I can end up with around 35ish after Sundays run. That is 6 less then the previous week. I'm just thinking that dropping back 11 miles in one week was a little too much, so 6 may be a better goal. That way, my ramp starts at 41 next week, and goes up from there.

So, it does look like I'll be blogging tomorrow!! Until then, train hard and LIVESTRONG!