As this is my first post since publicizing that I am running the B2BS challenge on behalf of Midland Children's Rehab Center (MCRC), I thought I would give a warm welcome to anyone that finds themself here reading this post. I sincerely appreciate any support you give to me over the next nine weeks, whether it be in the financial or moral form.
The opportunity to take this challenge came up several months ago and I took the plunge along with 3 friends of mine that I will introduce at a later date. The 3 of them are all running to benefit the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. I choose MCRC due to the great work that the center does for children here in our community of Midland, Texas and because of the children as well. I have been blessed with four healthy children, but not everyone is so lucky and their are many families out there that need the help of the center. Since my days of serving on the Board of High Sky Children's Ranch, I have had a place in my heart for organizations that benefit children and I truly appreciate the opportunity that MCRC is giving me to represent them in this endeavor.
On to the training. While it feels like I have been at it nonstop for some time due to the 3 marathons last year, I'm only 4 weeks along into this cycle for Boston at this point. I like to consider it a 12 week cycle for Boston, 5 days off and then no training for Big Sur. So far, all has held up pretty well for me physically. A slight scare a few weeks back, but found out it was nothing serious at all, but rather just some tightness in the calf muscles. For those of you that are unfamiliar with marathon training, encounterng injury during the training cycle is a much more common factor than I imagined before running my first. I don't know the numbers, but a good deal of people training for a marathon never make it to the starting line because of injury related issues. Right now, holding injury at bay while still training as hard as this body can take is my goal.
Fortunately for me, as I have gained experience, I've been better able to sense when things aren't "right" and back it off a bit if necessary. Currently, that's not the case and that's just fine with me. I'll keep the throttle open as much as possible, yet take advantage of some easy days as well and hopefully find a good enough balance of training to get me to the starting line healthy and in good position for a solid race. Uh, make that two solid races.
On to the training which I will try to post weekly. This past week's training has gone as follows:
2/15 - Rest
2/16 - 13 miles on treadmill with miles 3-10.5 @ 6:02
2/17 - 6.1 miles easy run @ 8:15 pace
2/18 - 8.6 miles total with 12x400m intervals @ 1:13 avg per 400m
2/19 - 7.6 miles @ 7:27 pace
2/20 - 10.15 miles @ 7:44 pace
2/21 - 20.05 miles @ 7:29 pace
Total Miles = 65.6
This is the last week of my "speed phase" so I will be moving away from shorter intervals on the track and will be replacing those workouts with lactate threshold runs as my primary hard days. Total mileage for each of the last 3 weeks has been between 60-65 and should be around 65 this coming week with a third weekend in a row to include a 20 miler. This will be my 4th of this cycle. I only did 2 for my entire Boston training cycle last year.
Three more weeks until my tune-up race which will be the Rock 'n' Roll Dallas 1/2 Marathon. That race being 5 weeks out from Boston should give me a good idea of were I stand with my fitness. I'm feeling pretty healthy so I have high hopes right now. I'll post more on my goal for that race as we get closer.
Okay, until next weekend, take care and I'll be back to post the weeks activities. Thanks again to anyone taking a peek here. Have a great week!
