Saturday, April 12, 2008

Training Log: April 6-12

Sunday, 8:50 AM - 8.1 miles, 1:03:50. Easy does it on the trails with Ryan, Christy Mae and special guest Jeff Caron. Everything felt pretty good except for the perpetually tight left calf and persistently pesky plantar of the same leg.

Monday, 11:45 AM - 22.2 miles, 2:25:00. Last long run before Baahstin out at the Sterling Rail Trail, where the ratio of crushed gravel to pavement was 14:8, or 7:4 for you mathematical purests. Did the 6-mile loop three times and finished up with a 4-banger so I could practice taking fluids and fuel at regular intervals. Took water at 3, 9, 15, and 20 miles, Gatorade at 6, 12 and 18, a GU at 8 and another at 15. The strategy worked out very well, no GI troubles and no lack of energy. Had to stop and stretch the calf a few times but felt fantastic otherwise. Finished the run in 2:25 on the nose, which is hopefully a good omen for two weeks from now.

Tuesday, 8:30 AM - Spinning, 30:00. Quick spin before the soccer moms took control of the bikes.
7:30 PM - 5.5 miles, 44:30. Short shakeout from the store with Rich after work. Legs felt pretty good despite going long yesterday and being on my feet all day today.

Wednesday, 7:50 AM - 5 miles, 36:30. Easy does it from home before work, 6 x 20-second strides on the way home. Calf finally seems to be loosening up a bit.
7:30 PM - 5.3 miles, 38:00. Short loop through Westboro, then four loops of the plaza so I could practice taking fluids from paper cups I set up on the back of my car. Might need to look into a Fuel Belt.

Thursday, 8:45 AM - 10.2 miles, 1:08:30. 19:00 warmup, 5-4-3-2-1 halftime fartlek, 27:30 cooldown. Started at low 5-minute pace for the first couple pickups and gradually got down to 4:50-5:00 pace for the last few. Felt strong, just not fast. Good news is I'm racing a marathon and not a 5K, so better to be strong than fast anyway.

Friday, 7:45 AM - 7.7 miles, 54:00. Steady 7's on the Bike Path before work. Legs are finally starting to come back around.

Saturday, 7:45 AM - 6 miles, 41:00. 20:00 easy, 4 x [1:30 on/1:30 off], 1:00 easy, 4 x [30 sec on/30 sec off], 4:00 easy back home. "On" stuff at 5-minute pace, if that.

Totals - Running: 70 miles, 8 runs. Spinning: 30:00, 1 session. Last real week of training for Boston as I'll be keeping things pretty low key through next Sunday. Monday's long run was the main focus of the week and it was good for my legs - and perhaps even more so, my head - to be on my feet and feeling good for 2-1/2 hours. I needed that. I recovered quickly too, which was also encouraging. All in all I'm happy with my last 5 weeks of training, and despite the mid-winter injury hiccup I believe in my fitness and am confident that I'll run well a week from Monday.

Finally, a BIG thanks to everyone who helped keep my head - and body - inline these past couple months. Physically and mentally I would have folded without you guys.

Quote of the Week

"Many times I had asked the question, 'Why me?' Whether it be after poor races, struggles in life, injuries, etc. It tends to be an easy question to ask when you feel sorry for yourself. In this moment, on the verge of my first U.S. title, I finally had the courage to put my arms up in the air and say, 'Why not me?!'"
- Andrew Carlson, 2008 U.S. 15K champion

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice run monday--seems a bit long this close but nice run still

k.gwyth said...

Oooh very nice Hydration Rehearsal Mario! very nice!

Anonymous said...

If you're serious about the Fuel Belt let me know. I've got about a bajillion of them in my closet.

Anonymous said...

I thought you did not like fuel belts. Do you not drink on your long runs or do you always place water/gatorade?

Anonymous said...

If you are serious about the fuel belt - you should definitely practice using it on whatever the longest run is that you have left. As you probably are aware - it is never smart to try something new in the marathon. I've done Boston a few times and there's water and gatorade at every mile (on both sides of the road). The fuel belt will most likely annoy you if you are not used to it, especially if you already need to carry your gels, gus, what have you.

Mario said...

For the record, I was not serious about using the Fuel Belt. I'll try drawing water from asphalt before I strap one of those suckers on.

k.gwyth said...

ok, ok but if you do reconsider a fuel belt I think you should do this to it for marathon day:

http://mybedazzler.com/

Anonymous said...

C'mon. A Fuel Belt would go great with those half tights you're always wearing.

Mario said...

Touché, Kevin. Touché.

Anonymous said...

Good Mario. You scared me for a minute saying that you wanted a fuel belt! But what do you do during your 22's for hydration?