April 22, 2013

Journal Entries for April 21 and 22

I have a confession to make. Although I trained sparingly ("slugged out") from October through March , I did manage to fit in three marathons and a handful of halfs, including back to back marathons in January. I was severely undertrained, but ran 4:17 and 4:40 with no ill effects. I ran a bit too conservatively in the second one, and my fastest running was the last 10k of the second marathon. This is what it looked like:

I've also been training fairly consistently Since March, except for the last week. But the time for not running is over, it's time to do some really amazing shit.

My resting HR is about 35, max 185. I can maintain 180+ for just about 5k. I put in a 48 mile week several weeks ago, but nothing over 15 mpw until this week. In a half marathon a month or so ago I ran at sightseeing pace until the last 5k, which went down in just a whisker over 21 minutes (about 6:51 pace) and feeling strong and relaxed. The overall time was something like 1:48, but I think I could have easily gone 1:42. Not near mid-season racing form in the low 1:30's, but great for not having trained. So a couple weeks after I ran another local half (both within 20 minutes, one went from the maine to the mass border - exactly 13.1 miles, and the other finishes directly in front of my son's home).  Anyway, the plan there was to run about 1:40. I even had a plan.

I'm offering a special prize to the first person to post results for every race I've run this year. It's an awesome tech shirt from a distant marathon or running school, your choice from several!