Monday, November 10, 2008

Delayed recovery week / Training week 11/3-11/9

The name of the game this week was getting back to 100 percent. Mission accomplished. I started the week off feeling pretty awful--trashed legs, sluggish and a little burned out. But then as the week progressed I got better, especially after a day off on Wednesday. I finished with a strong long run on Sunday to get to a somewhat pedestrian 71.4 miles for the week, and now I feel close to 100 percent and am ready to take on the world.

Here's how the week went:

Monday
AM: 8.05 miles at 7:40 pace
My calves and right hamstring and IT band felt absolutely trashed! Usually Monday is an optional easy day/day off but I knew I'd stay up late on Tuesday watching the election returns and wouldn't be keen on an early-morning Wednesday run. So I decided to use Wednesday as my optional easy day/day off.

Tuesday
AM: 8.45 miles at 7:29 pace
Once again, my calves, hamstring and IT band felt pretty trashed.
PM: 5.65 miles during lunch in and around Shaker Park, Cleveland Heights, Little Italy and University Circle. Stayed up late watching the election results....
Total miles for day: 14.1

Wednesday
Off/rested

Thursday
AM: 8.43 miles at 7:30 pace
Maybe it was the day off, but my legs felt much better. The wonders of recovery....

Friday
AM: 8.11 miles at 7:35 pace
I took it easy and felt pretty strong. I ran the last full mile at 6:55 to test my legs and they checked out OK.

Saturday
AM: 13.4 miles with the Southeast Running Club in South Chagrin Reservation
Due to lots of rain, the trails were very muddy. It was cold, too--38 degrees with light rain that tapered off. I ran with Jeff U., Tim C., John S., John L., John K. et al. After 7 miles most everyone took off, leaving Tim and me to run the last 6.5 miles. I felt strong--far better than I had the last two weeks.

Sunday
AM: 15.35 miles in Solon with SERC
I got to Solon about 20 minutes early for an easy 2-mile warm-up and returned to the bagel shop to meet up with the club for our 8 a.m. start. Feeling nearly 100 percent, I ran hard--really hard, actually--with Mark G. to the water stop. Except for the first mile, my splits for the 6 miles to the water stop were aggressive: 1) 7:46, 2) 6:16, 3) 6:06, 4) 5:57, 5) 5:52 and 6) 6:01. We fought a head wind in a few areas. I was pretty winded during that third mile because I had to run hard to catch up to Mark, but then I caught my breath and sailed into the water stop pretty tired but very functional. I then ran at about 7:45 pace for the rest of the way, adding on 2 miles in end. I ate chili the night before and later regretted it....
PM: 4 miles easy on my treadmill
Total miles for day: 19.35

Total miles for week: 71.44
Total miles for month: 95.61
Total miles for year: 3,416.87

My goals for this weeks are:
  • 70+ miles
  • Wednesday: 3 one-mile repeats at 5:50 pace on the track or, if the weather is uncooperative, on the my treadmill
  • Friday: 4-mile tempo run at 6:30 pace

Even though the off-season is here (though I still may run the Fall Classic 1/2 Marathon in a few weeks), I still want to get in some quality training. I think some scaled-back quality training, such as what I've written above, will be enough to keep my leg turnover pretty good during the winter and allow for a strong foundation to build on in February, when I start training for my spring marathon and the Mohican 100.

***

I've been thinking about my 2009 race schedule. I still don't know the specifics, but I do know I'm going back to the Mohican 100 to seek revenge. Through 70 miles at the 2008 race, I was on pace for a sub-17-hour time and top-2 finish, and then my knee blew up, along with my stomach at mile 80. I finished in 19:22 for 4th overall. I will be looking for a strong time at the 2009 Mohican and will again start training hard for it in February. It's never too early to start thinking about your next 100.

I'm still not sure which spring marathon I will run. My hesitation with running the Cleveland Marathon hard is that it's so close to Mohican (about a month). I may instead run the Cincy Flying Pig, which is in early May, as my spring marathon. There is always a chance I'll be at Boston, though it's pretty slim at this point. I still plan to run the Lt. JC Stone 50K in Pittsburgh in March. I heard the 100K national championship won't be at the Mad City 100K. I can't find out where it's been moved--no mention of it online.

Onward and upward!

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