Let the GAMES BEGIN!

Well...We are officially 18 weeks from toeing the line in Long Beach CA for what will hopefully be a successful attempt at a Boston Qualifier. Last wee was kind of a rest week with some shorter speed sessions and a tempo run that we haven't done in a loooooong time. But the weekend was all about sunday sunDAY SUNDAY and the start of my journey. And of course....all good training plans have to be somewhat flexible....and what I mean by that is that if something sums up, you just have to know when to alter things a bit.

And of course, alterations happened Saturday night. On the schedule was a 14 mile run that was being held across town with my running group. Well.....To get there by the 5:30 start time, meant getting up before 4am and leaving the house by 4:45....That's a tough one during the week, let alone on a Sunday. Well...Saturday night we got invited to a pizza party. Well....After a few too many rum laced Eegees Pina Colada drinks, and lord knows how many beers......I happened to look at my watch and it was already 10:30.....After we packed up the kids, and got home, I didn't even roll into bed until almost 11. Now, in my defense, I did fall asleep quickly......as Saturday started with a 6 mile run with the group at 5:30am....and then I unloaded and spread about 6 tons of rock in my backyard. Needless to say, I was beat....So....I altered my plan, being my alarm clock, and made the decision to run solo Sunday am by 7. I would still do the 14 miles on the schedule. And that was EXACTLY what I did.

As I took off out the door just slightly before 7, I took it nice and easy. My body was kinda sore from Saturday, but my legs definitely wanted to run. My goal for the 14 miles was 2 hours and 6 mins. That's a nice easy 9 min/mile pace. My first mile came in at 9:11 as it almost always does. As my legs started to wake up, I dropped my splits to 9:04 and 9:02......From there, the faster songs on my iPhone started playing and I immediately lowered the pace down to 8:45ish. And that's pretty much where I stayed for the remainder of the run. Which meant, I started putting 15 or so seconds into the bank with each mile. At the end of the 14 miles, I clocked in at 2:04 and some change. Almost a full 2 minute quicker than I had expected. So, that made for a nice relaxing dive into the pool for a quick cool down before I started unloading that last ton and a half of rock.

And what's even more amazing....I FELT GREAT throughout the day. I managed to finish up the rock....Wash my poor 'ol truck free from the debris of hauling rock.....That, and I successfully managed to wake up this AM and log 3.5 miles of a recovery run! BAM! That's what I'm talkin' bout.

So, tomorrow is going to be another group workout. On the dockett is 3x2miles. Let's git er done! Until then, train hard and LIVESTRONG!