Week in Review

Time: 600:57
Distance: 85.02 miles

YTD: 35 miles

I'm content with the training this week. We have entered a new year and the desire to train for another marathon is high. I'm leaning towards running the National Marathon in DC near the end of March. Jeff hit me with the new training cycle that looks manageable, but will definitely be a challenge. When I toe the line for my next marathon, there is going to be no messing around. The goal is to run fast. I have two 'thons under my belt and was able to compete well within my abilities. It's time to see how fast I can run at the distance. The training is designed for a 2:20 to 2:22 performance. Who can say if that's possible, but I'm going to give it one hell of a shot.

My workout on NYE is indicative of my current fitness. I ran a controlled 5.66 mile continuous workout averaging 5:13 pace. The workout had me switching gears between 1ks and mile repeats. In the coming weeks my aerobic fitness will only get stronger, but hopefully not with the sacrifice of some speed. Ideally, I will run a half-marathon in the lead up to the National Marathon.

Here is a link that shows the 10-11 week build up to the race.

The New Plan

This morning I had a nice conversation with my coach Tom. We discussed many things like becoming a general in the Costa Rican Army, the price of bicycles in Trajikistan and the prevalence of "mingers, munters, and wagons." More importantly, we talked about training. Some of the notes to come out of the discussion were:

• stay off the track in Cali
• focus on hills
• spend any extra energy doing drills
• run strides right... 150m hard
• week #1 - 60 miles
• week #2 - 70 miles
• get ready to start doing legit track work upon arrival to Oklahoma in Jan. (600s, 800s, etc.)

I liked the training plan and think I should stick to it if I want to run a decent indoor season. We think a trip up to the "launch pad" would be in our favor. Since I am just getting back to filling out this blog after some time off, Owen's potential race list serves as a decent model. Also, I haven't discussed this with him, but... Tajikistan? You see, I wasn't really interested in reading anyone's blog while I wasn't running. Especially, when it was ice storming in Oklahoma and I catch a glimpse of this. 70 degrees? Are you kidding me?