4 Down, 14 To Go

Unfortunately there were no celebrity (or look-a-likes) around this week on my runs. No Osama, no Obama, no Jeff Tweedy and not even a Rod Blagojevich sighting. Hot Rod and his fancy hair helmet actually live less than a mile from us. The ex-gov supposedly puts up 8:00 miles. I am not sure if I'd try to tackle him or run with him for a bit if I ever saw him.

I finished up last week with 62 miles. Here's how it shook down:

Monday- 5.7 Recovery @9:35 pace, 120 AHR
Tuesday - 11 MLR @8:15 pace, 146 AHR
Wednesday - 5.3 Recovery@ 9:14 pace, 125 AHR
Thursday - 9.16 GA Miles w/10x100m strides; 8:21 pace, 144 AHR
Friday- 18.05 Mile LR @ 8:06 pace, 150 AHR. I ran this with Walter and Amy, two of my running friends from the Runners World 3:20 thread. It's definitely nice to have some company on 18 miles as opposed to headphones.
Saturday - Rest
Sunday-11 Miles @ 7:49, 150 AHR. This was a true progression run where each mile was faster than the previous mile. The last three were at marathon pace. Here's what the splits looked like:
8:46, 8:34, 8:24, 7:58, 7:49, 7:45, 7:36, 7:23, 7:17, 7:15, 7:14. I then tacked on a extra 1.75 miles later in the day with Tiffany and Isla in the jogging stroller.

Overall I am feeling good. Maybe just a little tight or sore from the unplanned marathon paced miles at the end of yesterday's run, but nothing terrible by any stretch. Here's how the upcoming week looks:
(I should note that I have been pretty fluid with my schedule. I use this as the outline and adjust when when needed. The main goal is to hit the weekly mileage total and make sure I accomplish the key runs. I have been moving days around quite regularly.)

Monday- 5 Recovery
Tuesday - 9 LT, w/5 @ 6:52 (Half Marathon Pace)
Wednesday - 14 MLR
Thursday - 5 Recovery
Friday- 12 MLR
Saturday - Rest
Sunday-18 Mile LR, with 10 miles at 7:15(Goal Marathon Pace)
63 Miles total


It looks like there are a couple tougher runs in there. The 9 Lactate Threshold with 5 at Half Marathon Pace should be a good test. And Sunday's 18 with 10 at Goal Marathon Pace is rough. I haven't yet decided if I will "Hudson-ize" that run or not. By Hudsonize, I mean break it into two, three or four segments to make it a little more manageable. It actually may depend on the weather. If it's really hot and humid, I most likely will break up the MP miles. If we had the same temps of this past weekend, I think I'd go for it.

Next week is a cutback week (55 Miles) and the end of the first training Mesocycle. The second Mesocycle, which is 5 weeks long, features some 20+ mile runs, some doubles and some longer Lactate Threshold runs and my first ever 70 mile week. Sounds fantastic.