forty-seventh

Cool temperatures? my memory seems to be too short, cause even though it's only been a couple weeks of hot days, I was glad to have a break today.

5miles. 38:20

Inching toward Saturday, then I can spend next week drawing diagrams and charts and adding up mileage and planning for the training...not that exciting to some people, but I think I enjoy the planning more than the running itself. It's like I look at the paper calendar with notes scribbled all over it and think "Wow, it would be great to have run that much."
I might give myself some incentive to stick with the plan by signing up for the marathon next week.

And after all my babbling about Brad Hudson coaching Dathan Ritzenhein, Ritz went and decided to find another coach (old news by now, but I kept forgetting to mention it). Hmmm. I think I'll stick with Hudson for a while. I need to keep getting in his steep hill sprints cause I've been slacking on that for the last couple weeks.

nineteenth

4miles. 32min.

6x8sec steep hill sprints. 

I am in decent aerobic shape, but in terrible strength/speed/neuromuscular shape.

The sprints (which I didn't do at all last week like I was planning on)  wore me out, even though they are 8 seconds long and I only did that one small set.

I plan on getting these sprints in after 2 runs per week. Probably no more than 6- 8 sprints each time, and I won't have them extend much longer than 8-12 seconds. 

Tomorrow I'll run 3 miles, half of which will be on a steady uphill. I am recognizing my need for strength training in the form of 1.) the steep hill sprints 2.) longer hilly sections in my easy/moderate runs and 3.) trail runs. I live near the foothills, so I might as well take advantage of the scenery. 

Oh, and hopefully on friday I 'll get my 8 mile "long" run in on a section of the Denver Marathon course, just to check out parts of it. My wife's suggestion. A good one in my opinion. 

The course is flat and city asphalt. Nothing super exciting, but it is still the race I am leaning toward running.

It is $90, though. I know all marathons cost a decent amount of money, but that price is if you sign up by the end of May! It's $100 if you sign up by the end of August. I want to register and be committed to running the marathon, but not by the end of May. A lot can happen between then and the race...like me doing something dumb with my training, hurting myself, and then not training for 4 weeks in August.

I'll have to see.

ninth

5 miles in 40min. On the treadmill.

Too cold and windy to want to run outside. In the last 4 weeks of training, I have kept the majority of my runs outside and on asphalt or dirt. I am hoping that this can help prevent injury (and keep me motivated).
I felt strong the entire run, and did not feel any foot pain. I get nervous every time I start to get a small pain in the ball of either foot. I have had trouble with foot pain (two years ago) and I attributed it to an irresponsibly large amount of treadmill running. To be honest, I was running about 25-30 miles a week. I ramped up the volume too quickly and the week I got hurt I ran 10miles on the treadmill, then 8, then 8 again on 3 consecutive days. Dumb.

My goal for this week is 25 miles. I want to formulate an "official" 20 week training plan, so depending on whether I run the Boulder or Denver marathon, I have 5-8 week(ish) of base building left and would like to start my training at 30 miles/week minimum. Hopefully... Assuming all goes well.

I am basing a lot of my training planning off of Brad Hudson's Run Faster. He focuses on high milage and adaptive running. Peaking for a race by incorporating larger and larger portions of race pace running as training progresses. Flexible training schedules to avoid injury (not forcing a workout simply because it is written on the schedule). And several other key points, that offer only a simplistic analysis of his training philosophy.

I will provide more details as I continue to read and continue to flesh out my own training plan.