Some may ask, Trek for 40?? What's that? Well, it's a little thing that I've got going in my pursuit of marathon training. My first hurdle was reaching 30 miles per week. My second hurdle will be achieving 40 miles per week. It's been a long time since I've run 40 miles per week. And when I say a LONG time, I sure do mean it. I'm guessing that it's been at least a year, but unfortunately my Garmin deleted all of those previous workout logs when my watch stopped communicating with the computer and i was forced to upgrade software versions. I'm guessing I had weeks where I hit 40, it's not completely out of the realm of possibility considering I was doing long runs of 18 to 20 miles on Sundays in preparation for NYC. And it was all being done about this time last year. But last year was very different for me. 1) I was about 10 pounds heavier. You don't think that's much, but when you consider all of the pounding your legs take, it's actually quite a bit. 2) I had the iinterfereance of the coffee house. When an employee got stupid, it was usually me that ended up covering their shift for them. And aroudn this time of the year, it seemed to happen frequently. 3) I didn't have a running partner. So, there was a LOT of time to myself to think and think and think.....
All three of these aspects, are 180 degrees from where I was just a year ago. I'm running at 181.6 pounds as of this morning. at a full 10 pounds less then last year, that's about 20 seconds per mile I'm running faster. And since we closed the coffee house, that stress is gone (although not totally complete yet). And finally, I've got a running partner whose goals are very similar to mine. What that means, total dedication to the sport I love!
Last week, my goal was to se out and run 35 miles. And after the first 3 days, I was right on track. I wanted to do it in 6 days of running, but wouldn't you know it, life happened, and I ended up taking 2 days of rest. Not that it's a bad thing, just made the weekend runs a little longer then previously scheduled. But it actually turned out to be a good thing. Because I changed my focus to a my Saturday run, and turned it into a 6 mile tempo run, with a 2.8 mile cool down. I wanted to go out there and run a little bit faster then my HM pace, but not wquite my 10K pace. And the route I chose was a bit more dificult then our Long Loop Lope which is a 5 mile marked very fast and flat course. This route I chose was my normal long run, but I cut it short and cut through a neighborhood after the 6 mile point for the cool down. Miles 1 and two are very fast and pretty flat. I ran those two in 7:25 and 7:27. Miles 3 and four is where the challenge begins. They are steady uphill segments, that took me into Continental reserve. It's not bad that my pace slowed, because it was pretty much expected with the hills the way they were. They were 8:02 and 8:31. As the hill started to turn the other direction, I ran mile 5 in 8:05 for a 39:30 split at the five mile point. I held that pace for mile 6 and actually ran a 7:55 finishing at 47:25, a time that put a HUGE smile on my face. After a couple of minutes to catch my breath I started off on the recovery part of my run the 2.8 miles home. This was the time I used to reflect on the run that was. When I got home, I was tired, but I was beaming with the accomplishment of a great tempo run where I averaged 7:49 for the whole run, basically EXACTLY where I wanted to be. Faster then the 8 min/mile pace of a HM, but slower then the 7:40 pace of a 10K.
So when I woke up Sunday with tired legs, I wasn't surprised one bit. Sunday was all about getting in the miles. It didn't matter how long it took, its a nice easy run to go clear out the junk from yesterdays run. Basically I ran the same course, but instead of cutting through the retirement community, I ran the entire long loop for a 9.5 mile day. I started out very predestrian at a 9:45 pace to warm up the legs, and it wasn't too long before I was at my normal stide. the nice thing was, as I ran along, my pace kept increasing. In fact, I ran a negative split. By mile 5 I was running at an 9:05 pace. Milres 6, 7, 8, and 9 gradually increased until I was running an 8:45 pace. And it was all good! I got home, made my post run omlette and sat back and watched the Cowboys get spanked. Nothing puts a smile on my face like watching the Cowboys lose. I finished the week with 35.5 miles. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!
This week I have a great big target on 38.5 as my goal. I don't like to increase by more then 10% over the previous week. No need to push it and get injured at the beginning of the training when your running so well. So when the alarm went off today, I knew it was a meet paul morning. I had intended to cut the run at 3.5 miles, just for my legs sake, but at the cut point, I was feeling OKAY and ended upt doing the full 5.7. It's kind of a nice feeling, running on tired legs, and accomplishimg more then you mentally had set out to do. The thing about running with Paul is that the time goes by faster then when your by yourself. I still need those day of solitude, but I definitely need the motivation of having to meet someone. If you skip, your letting them down, and they are out there getting stronger while your slacking. Plus, it's nice to see the other runners in your group out there. Every day we run that loop we see Dave and Todd, and somedays in there we'll see Steph joining them. It's good to see them getting ready for California International marathon coming up.
So, with 5.7 on the board this week, we'll keep the trek to 38.5. After that its game on with 40!!
LIVESTRONG, and keep on training HARD!
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