Zapping my fitness

8:15 AM - 10 miles, 1:06:40 - Jarrin 10.
Reversed the regular direction just to switch things up a bit. 7:40, 7:17 and 6:40 for three of the early miles, no clue after that but apparently I picked up the pace. Legs expectedly tired but the effort felt comfortable.

That's right Rob, I named this loop after you brother. It will be a staple from here on out.

So I was feeling pretty tired when I rolled out of bed this morning, no doubt a direct result of an increased training load the past few days. Once I got going my legs felt a bit zapped but my stride felt smooth and aerobically I was never laboring. Combating the effects of cumulative fatigue will be the overarching theme from now until early April, so since I'm expecting it I'll try and keep my complaining to a minimum.

Heading into this training cycle I've got 15 months of mostly uninterrupted training under my belt, unlike before Vermont City last year when I was working off a few months of mediocre mileage and purposely conservative workouts. The end result there, given my abbreviated period of preparation, was both successful and encouraging, but now that I'm healthy, strong and structurally sound it's time to up the ante a little bit.

I'm coming off a fall of consistent training with some average cross country results and an unexpected half marathon PR, a combination of positive factors which has me excited about what I'll be able to do on the roads this spring. Over the next 12 weeks I'll be increasing my mileage, introducing some heftier workouts and racing some longer distances which will hopefully have me in rip-roaring shape come April 21st.

Another thing I'll be trying to do more of over these next few months is sleeping. A little rest goes a long way when one is training hard, so I'm going to make a real good effort to hit the hay at a decent hour from now until April 20. And now is as good a time as any to practice what I'm preaching. Goodnight.

Quote of the Day

"Then the guy whacked me in the face with a two-by-four. Talk about a buzzkill."
- Mark, physical therapist extraordinaire who refers a buttload of patients to the store, telling Rich and I about one of his adventures in Providence.