Back to Training

As my alarm started chirping at 4:30 a.m. this past Saturday, I realized that it was really time to get back to training.  Since chasing down that elusive Boston Qualifier in Chicago in mid-October, I had either slept late and completely avoided a long run, or raced a 5K.  I had also taken the time to watch my nephew, Kale, play basketball and hang out with my niece, Kinsley.  Oh yeah, and I had been eating like a horse!!!  All of which were very much needed.   

With this lack of structure, for me, comes a lack of focus and motivation.  I got my BQ, so now what?  Do I relax a bit and try to enjoy running a marathon as a 'tourist'?  Or, do I continue to work hard and see how much improvement is left within this training year.  I mean, heck, that 3 hour mark is only 10 minutes away.  ;)  So, a week or so ago, I decided the latter.  I need to know if it is possible for me to improve on this 3:10:17 marathon time.  Therefore, it's back to training.

Monday
What a better way to find out if there's improvement left in this training cycle than starting off with a hill workout!  This was tough.  I haven't been on the hills in over a month.  The goal with my hill work is to be at or lower than 5K pace.  With the time change the day before, I knew that I needed to try to squeeze this in during my lunch hour to keep from having to do it in the dark.  9 x Hills with a 2 Mi. warm-up and cool-down.  Got very close to my preferred paces and was probably a little fast on my WU/CD miles.  

Tuesday
Totally did not expect this run the day after a hard hill workout.  Nate was in town and he's trying to pack on the miles as well.  We both needed to get in 10'ish miles and had planned to do this relatively easy.  Yeah, right!!!  Seems that every time he and I run together we go faster than we plan.  This is good as I think he and I both relax a bit and just run.  We were able to carry on a complete conversation the entire way and knocked down 10 miles in just over 1:15.  I think we both got a nice boost of confidence from this run.  

Wednesday
While the temperature was good on this day, the rain arrived just as I started running.  I needed another 10 miles and hadn't run with East Nasty since Chicago.  I started almost an hour early to make sure I got in 6+ prior to the short EN route.  While I don't horribly dislike running in the dark, and definitely don't mind running in the rain, I absolutely despise running in the dark AND the rain.  6+ by myself before EN.  4 mile EN route with Eric Block, Josh Furnier, and Mark Miller, all of whom left me in the last half mile.  The legs just didn't respond when those guys took off.  

Thursday
This was intended to be a very easy run just to remind the legs that running is what we do.  I got started just as it was getting dark and knew that I was going to be rushed for time.  The legs felt pretty good and I turned it up just a bit.  Finished 6 miles at just under 7:30 pace.  

Friday
This is the beginning of my weekend series.  My training this year has me doing half the distance of my long run on the day before and the day after.  Twenty-two was the goal for Saturday, so this run called for 11.  The idea of the Friday run is to be aggressive and attempt to get to marathon pace.  I didn't quite make it there, but knocked out 11 at 7:35 pace.  Felt relatively good about this effort.  

Saturday
Yep, Long Run Saturday.  22 Miles and I left my vehicle at 5:55 a.m.  This was the day of the Hard Rock Marathon in Nashville and I knew that a.) I needed to get started well in advance of the race and b.) I'd have to change my route a bit to avoid the bulk of the race traffic.  The goal for my effort was slow and steady and just knock down the miles.  Time on the feet means more to me right now than any aggressive effort on this number of miles.   I got to 14 miles before encountering any significant race traffic.  This turned out very good for me.  Nothing like a 'race' setting to push me a bit faster than I was running.  Once getting into this race traffic, it appears that I unintentionally picked up the pace about 20-30 seconds per mile.  Hmmm......competitive?  Somewhere in this traffic, or maybe the numbness of the brain at 17 miles, I forgot how to do math and ended up cutting the last portion of my route short by about 3/4 mile.  Finished with 21.27 miles at just over 8:00/mile.

This run hurt!  While I felt good late in the run, I think the race traffic took over the brain.  In passing, a young lady yelled my name.  I responded, I think, but never looked and still have no idea who it was.  We'll call that 'focus'!  I spent the remainder of the day on the couch, napping and relaxing.  I guess 22 miles after taking almost a month off from the long run wasn't my best idea ever......

Sunday
The Survival Run.  11 miles.  Take it easy, slow, and exert a minimal an effort as possible.  I knew that I was closing in on 80 miles for the week and needed more than 11 to get me there.  Wasn't exactly sure how close.  At 5.5 miles I decided to go another half mile out.  That would get me awfully close to 80.  This was the slowest, most methodical run I've done in a long time and surprisingly felt pretty good as it ended.  12 miles at 8:27 pace.  

79 miles for the week. The Daylight Savings Time thing stinks and makes it really tough on an 'afternoon/evening runner'.  This week turned out very good and gave me some much needed focus on Huntsville (12/14) and confidence.  Two more really tough weeks before Taper Time (~my favorite time of the year~).