The Week of 03/24/2014: The Point of No Return

Last week of base conditioning; next week off to tempos!  In preparation I actually ran my first tempo this week.  As I begin running longer distances I have been running multiple laps of my shorter courses; in doing so I have noticed a psychological effect that comes from passing a bailout point and realizing that there is nothing to do, but to go forward and complete the run.  Maybe it's just me, but it feels like the miles go by easier after you have passed the point of no return. My 12:30 GMP for Grandma's is clearly low hanging fruit; I am fine with it though.  5:30:00 will still be a PR time for me, plus it goes hand in hand with my plan of being prepared, enjoying myself and not blowing up on the course.  I didn't accomplish any of those things in the 2012 TCM. I intend to enjoy Grandma's experience in June and then put it to work to set a more ambitious goal for TCM in October.

Monday 03/24/2014

Scheduled:  5 Mile Recovery Run 10º, Partly Cloudy.  This and the previous (Sunday's) runs went really well from a comfort standpoint; I think that I got away without proper stretching for a long time, and if I continued pushing it I may have injured myself.  Most likely I would have, since even now I have little nagging issues that I could only imagine worsening as I ramp up my miles.

Tuesday 03/25/2014

Scheduled:  8 Miles, 6 Mile Tempo @ GMP 12º, Clear & windy. Ran the first 2 miles nice and slow, for the next 6 I bumped up to my GMP (Goal Marathon Pace) which, in all fairness to runners everywhere, is still pretty darned slow. This run did not kill me.  My 12:30 per mile GMP appears to be extremely do-able at this point, 12 more weeks of training should make it more so. One challenge that I have faced this winter compared to years past is that I have been running shorter circuits closer to home, doing multiple laps in the case of longer runs.  The nice part is that I can bail out halfway through a run if it is going bad.  The not so nice part is that on runs where I really just need to buckle down and get through them, that bail out point looks awfully tempting. Such was the case today on the fifth mile when I went past the turn that would lead me back home.  It was cold and windy, and my butt was numb.  It was very tempting to turn in and cut the workout short.  Once I got past the turn I noticed that not only did I feel better, but I realized that I must have been contemplating ditching at some subconscious level for some time.  Even though my butt was still numb, I felt a whole lot better after I had passed the point of no return.

Wednesday 03/26/2014

Scheduled:  6 Mile Recovery Run 09º, Partly Cloudy.  A beautiful run under a pre-dawn sky. Typical first two mile issues, everything loosened up in the third mile and the run went well from there.

Thursday 03/27/2014

Scheduled: 5 Mile General Aerobic Run 37º, Overcast & drizzle.  What a difference a 30 degree temperature shift makes! No outer shell, no beanie, no balaclava today. Ran in the rain, sloshed in the puddles, thankful that there were no ice patches. I ran the first mile at 12:30 as a warmup, ran the rest sub 12. The shins bothered me a little bit, but no issues on my plantar fascia or my ankles. A day off from running tomorrow to swim and then my long run on Saturday. Great week so far!

Friday 03/28/2014

Scheduled: XT (Swimming) I skipped my cross training and caught up on sleep this morning. It snowed an inch or two of wet sloppy snow last night and froze up into an icy crust this morning. I am hoping that the sun will melt most of it away prior to tomorrow morning's 10 miler.

Saturday 03/29/2014

Scheduled: 10 Mile Long Run 20º, Clear.  A good morning for a run, tough it took the better part of 3 miles for my shins to loosen up.  There were about 4 nice miles in the middle, before my hip flexors, my hamstrings and my ankles started to tighten up during the last three.  On all my long runs so far this winter I was able to get away with just a 20oz water bottle; today I drained it and was starting to hurt a little by the end.  Will definitely need to start using the camelback on 10+ mile runs, and bring along some nutrition - I wasn't bonking quite yet at the end, but the tank was definitely low.

Sunday 03/30/2014

Scheduled: REST Nice restful day.  Went for a 2.5 mile walk with the kids.