Thumbs Can Get Sore From Too Much Twiddling

I've taken this week off from any exercise...and it's killing me! I was over the soreness from the half marathon by Wednesday. The effects from my cold are nearly gone (still tired at times and have just a very slight cough). Monday I'll strap on the running shoes and start training for next spring's marathon. At this point, I'm leaning toward the Windermere, once again in Spokane. It falls on May 15th, which gives me a full 30 weeks of training. To keep me focused for that long haul, I've got 3-4 10k races and 1 or 2 half marathons lined up along the way. My recent half marathon went well, but this time I want to focus on slowly building a bigger base, and running SLOWER during my long runs and my easy runs. Like most recreational runners, I tend to run my easy runs at too fast a pace. I'm going to fight that tendency. But, by the same token, I will also put the appropriate effort into my intervals, tempo runs and "B" races, too...all while staying injury-free. Sounds great, doesn't it? Hehe. We'll see. As for mileage, I roughly mapped out a plan that'll take me up to a 50 mile week, along with a 24-mile long run before the marathon. If I can run more miles while staying healthy and NOT overtraining, I will. I would just rather err on the side of caution, so 50 is the tentative "high" week in my plan.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Run in the Country, Part Deux

At 6:15am this morning, I went for a 6-mile run on the same course as Saturday's run, with almost the same time (49:04 today; 49:11 Saturday). Perhaps my average pace is starting to speed up, but I wanted to run this slower than I did (around 8:30 per mile instead of the 8:11 I ran). The effort felt lower than some recent slower runs, so maybe this is a sign if my fitness improving. My finishing HR was 130, which I was happy with. I may run this route again before we head for home tomorrow. I'll be back over here in October to run the Spokane Half Marathon (my WWFOR race).

Ahh! No iPod!

Went for a very rare iPod-less run today (it was acting up) and really enjoyed it! Was nice to go old school - the sound of my own breathing and footfalls among the breeze and birds. Ah yes...Thoreau is smiling in his grave (I won't mention the crappy traffic I had to dodge twice).
The run itself was 5.5 miles in a time of 44:05 (8:01 pace). Ran the first 3.5 at 8:00 pace, then ran 1 mile in 7:17, then an easy mile to finish. Not a great run, but not bad. Breathing was tough. May have been allergies. I really wanted to see what would happen when I ran a relatively hard mile after a few medium-paced miles, then how the fatigue would affect my last slow mile. I was pleased with how I was able to hold form and stride rate and relax my muscles and breathing that last mile (about 8:24).
We may be due for a bout of stomach flu to make its way through the family. My youngest had it two nights ago. If that happens, my training week may be cut shorter than it already is. But I'll cross that liquid-projectile bridge when I get to it. Sorry about the visual...

Double Digits

Just banked my first 10-mile run this year. Started after the rain, finished just before a torrential downpour. Time was 1:22:56 (8:18 pace). Felt strong for about 8 miles, then was kind of dragging the last 2. That gave me a good opportunity to concentrate on maintaining good form and foot turnover. Back straight, shoulders back, head up...all that good stuff. Five months ago, I was only running 1 mile, three days a week, so this is VERY encouraging. My knee and IT band held up well, which is also VERY encouraging. It's becoming obvious that I don't have too many gears, but I can hold a decent pace for a long time. I suppose part of that comes with age (as a distance runner, anyway). I still want to work on some speed just to sharpen up a bit before the 5k next month, so this will probably be my last long run before then. It was really enjoyable, though, so I'm anxious to start building up the mileage later this year.