March 16th-22nd Training

Monday: 5.3 miles (6:45); 4.9 miles (7:31)

Tuesday: 5.3 miles (7:00ish); 5.7 miles (7:37)

Wednesday: 3.6 miles (6:51); 7 miles (6:39)

Thursday: 8 miles with 8x .15 miles on/ .35 miles off.  I like to run this workout as a race tune-up or if I'm working my way towards more structured work.  Ran the fast part just under 4:30ish average and about 5:50 for the four miles; 6.6 miles (6:57)

Friday: 5.3 miles (6:49)

Saturday: 8.5 miles with 5k in 15:11. Plan was to attempt to break the record of 14:57 since I busted my phone and could use the cash.  Never felt good from the get-go and legs didn't want to run fast.  Splits of 4:51, 4:55, 4:55.  I could have broken 15 if I hammered but don't know if I could have run 14:56 alone.  Ran this about 15s slower than last year, but I went out in 4:35 then; 3.4 miles (7:39)

Sunday: 16 miles (6:17). Good long run.  Eased into it and ran down a rolling road I don't venture over too that much. I felt really good on the run but a little worn out at the end, so it was probably the perfect distance for where I'm at in training right now.

Week Total: 79.6 miles. Felt a little worn out and banged up this week.  Legs were achy most of the week and my right knee was really stiff for a few days.  Normally when you train hard, you're both absorbing the training from a couple of weeks ago but getting broken down from the current training.  Since I had a few weeks of down time, I went from a state of major detraining to adding stress with the current training, so I'm constantly getting a little worn out.  In another week or two, I should get a nice fitness boost as I start to absorb some of the training but until then, I'll try to keep the brakes on as much as possible.

This week should bring 90-100 miles with a moderate workout and long run.  No real races for quite some time.

Four weeks until Boston and I have a couple of people that I coach racing it.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they do and they should be prepared with all the long, extensive hill work, "assertive" downhills and varied-paced workouts they've done in training.  It's the type of course you have to train for, rather than just train for the distance.  As the old saying goes, "if you're training for Boston on the track, you're off track."  (I really just made that up).