Missing a week of blogging but not of training.

My goal with this blog has been to narrate my training so I can look back on it as a training tool in the future, and share it with people at some point down the road. It has remained private up to this point because a) I haven't asked my mom to read it and b) there aren't a ton of folks interested in another training blog, especially one written by a 2:50 hopeful! That being said though, I do imagine that one day the training info in here might help me help someone else get ready for a marathon, at least because it is comprehensive in its description of the long run - perhaps the biggest mental challenge in getting excited about preparing for a marathon. Why write this? Because I skipped a week and that is exactly the type inconsistency that dooms all good things. So, from here on out I will try to be weekly with the updates.

Two weeks ago I had a great week culminating in a good-feeling marathon specific long run. After my mother's day brunch with my family, I took off with the intention of running from my parents house in Point Loma (san diego) to what is approximately the 17 mile mark of the Rock'n'Roll marathon, and then back home. The goal was to head out for 10 miles at 7:30 pace, and run the last 10-11 at goal marathon pace - 6:30 minute miles. I felt a little bit rocky on the run out- it was cold and drizzling in San Diego and I had eaten a sandwich about an hour earlier, so I was not sure which way things were going to head as soon as I picked the pace up. To my surprise, after hitting the turn around in Mission Bay and speeding up to 2:50:00 marathon pace I felt great. I did not have to labor too hard to hang on for the last 11 miles of the run, and the final mile did not feel significantly harder than the 1st had. It is this run and the long run from this sunday that I will focus on the nights before San Diego, because they confirm that my dream of 2:50 is possible. That run's program was loosely taken from Greg McMillan's coaching discussion on www.mcmillanrunning.com. A total of 85 miles for the week - my third consecutive 80+ week.

I was definitely a little bit fatigued after the aforementioned run, and after talking to a friend about his scare with overtraining before the Saint George Iron-Man (which he ultimately finished in less than 12 hours - an amazing feet!) I decided to take it VERY easy on monday with a light 2.5 - 3 miles on grass in trainers in a park near my house. I felt good the next day and ran my AM run at 6:35 pace and then had a great Marathon type track workout (8X1000 on 7 min cycle at 5k race pace - ran 1200 for the last two reps and ran easy during the recovery for a total of like 11 miles including warmup and cooldown). I took it out hard-ish for the rest of the week as well, and as a result took saturday completely off. This was a tough choice but I knew needed to give myself a true rest day in order to reap the maximum benefit from my last hard 20+ miler before San Diego. It panned out great. I got to the location of the run early and squeezed in 5 7:00 - ish miles before getting going on a run up crystal cove with the snails pace crew (minus Dave Parsel). The three of us struggled to stay on our feet in the mud and rain as we ran the 2k or so of vertical to the "top of the world" aka newport coast, but we still held things together and kept the pace good considering all factors. Once at the top we decided to take roads, instead of trails, down to the start of the run. I kicked in a fast finish type effort, running the last 5 miles home at a 6:25 pace (the miles were downhill, but still, it was hard!).

20.5 for the run and 75/76 for the week. Not quite 80, but I ran a ton of stuff at marathon pace this week and that was good!

Onwards and upwards - one more week of true training and then off to the taper. . . . yikes.

80 mile weeks

I have been feeling well over the past two weeks, running well on both the track and on my long runs (one of which was a 3.5 hour 28 mile affair. . . .)

My new Balance 890's have held up well, although today I started to feel uncomfortable in them, although that may just be a result of how I was feeling in the heat. I hit 82 miles two weeks ago, 83 last week, although I have already forgotten how many miles I had 3 weeks ago.

I have been crunched for time, but also found out that I have been accepted into UC Irvine as a senior. I am not sure how realistic it would be for me to make a cross country team there, but I think that if I dedicate the time and effort it takes to get stronger and faster, I will be able to walk on. Weather I would rather do that or continue working on my marathon/ultra training is yet to be determined. I love road racing, and the thought of trading that up for a shot at toeing the line in a collegiate race is a little unattractive. That being said I am sure that by getting faster at shorter distances and taking advantage of the coaching and training resources available I would ultimately enhance my ability to really take it out over 26.2. I think my performance in San Diego will determine that. If I break 2:55 I think I will stick with the marathon, and if not I will try and put my fitness to work getting in some fast 5/10k training done.

I am excited for San Diego, but watching how 'slow' the weather got for the OC marathon this weekend, I realize that my ability to reach my goal will hinge on a ton of factors, and that it will take me a few shots to get where I want probably.