2/17 - 2/23

Mon: 3.5-miles, 7-miles
Tues: 1-mile (6:21), 1200m (4:41), 800m (3:02), 6x400m (87-89)
Wed: 10-miles
Thurs: 7.5-miles (North Hills)
Fri: Off
Sat: 20-miles
Sun: 5-miles, weights
Total: 60-miles

Best week of training that I can remember! Maybe I should taper for fake races more often. Got in 60-miles, my first 20-miler, and fastest track workout in some time.

The started off on a good note when I actually got my butt out of bed Monday morning for a run... a first in a few weeks. Then, I got to Tir na nOg a little early, so I ended up doing 2-miles beforehand. I ran with Newt during the run... luckily he wanted to run easy as well. Wednesday was also a pretty easy run, except it was 70 degrees. I wish winter would pick this weather pattern. It was great. We ran with Brian on the last 5-miles of his birthday 32k (he broke it up into a couple of runs). And, Lisa brought cupcakes for after. More runs should involve cupcakes!

It was nice Tuesday at the track. Like shorts and short-sleeve shirt nice. And, I had people to run with. That hasn't happened this year, and consequently, this was by far my best track workout of the year. I felt great. Maybe it was a good idea to taper for a fake race last week. I have struggled with the longer repeats thus far, and most of my miles have been in the upper 6:20's to lower 6:30's... this week, I was chasing Allison and Rita and I didn't feel too bad at 6:21. I haven't run a 1200m in 2014, but my 800m split was faster than the majority of the 800's I've run. And, my 800m time was much faster than any of the 800's I've run lately. And, after all of that, the 400's were basically the same pace as last week. Maybe I haven't forgotten how to run!

Thursday was also super nice. I ran with Jerry and Chris. We put in a "good effort", but I was still semi-conversational for most of the run (except on some of the uphills). Looking at my overall pace, I'm pretty happy with that. North Hills is a tough route, my pace wasn't exactly slow, and I didn't feel like crap. Unfortunately, I had to bounce after the run to work on work, and Matt, Fred, and I didn't leave the lab until 2AM.

And I finally got 20 miles in on Saturday! I started early, ran 5-miles before I met up with some friends and ran with them for a bit. They are much faster than I am, but will pretty much match whatever pace you want to run. My legs felt pretty good, but I was starving by mile 13. I think I might devote a blog post to that last 7-miles, but I made it! It did take some convincing though (glad I can play head games with myself), especially the last 1.5-miles because my stomach kept growling and cramping up. I was parked up at the Art Museum, and was across the street by mile 18.5. Well, 18.6. If I crossed the street, it was highly unlikely that I'd keep going, and 18.5 is closer to 18 than 20, so I needed to get to 19. And since I floor() to the nearest 0.5-miles, I needed another 0.4 miles to "count". Then, I figured I'd be mad if I ran 19 miles and didn't suck it up for the full 20. There might have been some stopping/slowing up, but I kept my watch running. And the last 0.1-miles was run around in circles, but oh well, 20.00. When I stopped, I had to laugh at myself. I had somehow managed to convince myself to run 1.4-miles because I would "feel better" if I did. That was a complete lie.

Surprisingly, my legs felt pretty good Sunday. Matt and I ran 5-miles easy (it was nice to run with him again), and we went to the gym later to lift weights. I might have to find another day to lift weights as well, and maybe look into when they offer yoga/core classes.

Onwards and upwards... hopefully the weather holds out this week as well!