Catchup Time

I have been very poor at keeping this blog updated.  I blame that on the fact that I started a new job at the beginning of April, so no longer have the whole day to sit around and goof off on the internet.  Running has also become something of a challenge to schedule, no more can I go on three hour trail runs during the day.  I am seriously missing the whole "not working" thing, but unfortunately, not working doesn't pay so well.

Last update was the Oakland race, back in March.  April and May were supposed to be solid mileage months so I would be in good shape for the Seattle Marathon at the end of June.  Work schedule has messed that up a little.

I've been averaging only about 45 miles a week, which is very low for this stage. I'd be much happier if that were 70+.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that I'm definitely faster. Oakland was a PR in the half, I ran a very hilly 10K on May 7th, and finished pretty strong. Then last weekend I ran Bay to Breakers and finished in 46:25 (6:14 pace), which is over 3 minutes better than last year. I also finished that race really strong with the last 3/4 mile being run under 5:30/mile pace; usually i fade when trying to finish that fast from so far out.  Track workouts are also quick and I feel in great shape until the runs get longer.

Unfortunately none of these are going to convert to a fast marathon if I don't have the endurance side covered.  I've been doing lots of track workouts (early Tuesday morning with a running group) but only occasional tempos.  Last was a 10K progressively faster (6:50s down to 5:50s) in 40 minutes total, which felt pretty good.

I definitely need to get in some longer tempos (7-8 miles) and also some good solid long runs (18-22 miles) somehow in the next 5 weeks, or Seattle is going to be a trainwreck finish.  I haven't run more than 11 miles in one go since April 24th, so this is not looking like smart training.

So basically I have 3 weeks to get this thing sorted and will hopefully get a couple 50-60 mile weeks in there, then a 1-2 weeks to taper and then it'll be race day.  Hopefully the fact that I am faster, have run a lot of hills and am "only" shooting for 3:09 will get me through without the wheels coming off too badly.

After Seattle I have 5 weeks to recover, then it'll be 18 weeks until Vegas, where I'll be shooting for a PR in the marathon.