Saturday, January 16, 2010

A Solid Start

So, with Week #1 of BOSTON MARATHON 2010 TRAINING (cue theme music) in the books, here's how it actually played out:
  • Monday - 6+M easy, with 5x10 secs hill sprints
  • Tuesday - 9.7M,  with 8x1-minute at 5K-ish pace/effort (6:00 - 6:24)
  • Wednesday - 10+M, easy/steady
  • Thursday - 8+M, with 2x 1.5M at tempo pace (around 6:40/mile, except for the final 0.5M into a fierce wind)
  • Friday - 8M easy
  • Saturday - 16M easy, on a cold, windy morning
  • Sunday - 5M easy
Total did come out to 64 miles, as planned, with slight tweaks to individual days as a strangely flexible week unfolded.  The weather was pretty brutal, though I managed all runs but Sunday's outside.

This past week has come out like this so far:
  • Monday - 7M easy, with 6x10 secs hill sprints
  • Tuesday -  10+M, with 8x90-secs @ 5K-10K pace
  • Wednesday -7+M (starting at 4:45 am, in -4 temps, with wind chill - a slog)
  • Thursday - 10+M w/4x100m strides
  • Friday - 8+M, with 2x2M at half-marathon pace (though it was tough to average just under 6:50 per mile on these)
  • Saturday -7M easy/recovery (in shorts!)
  • Sunday -17+M easy, with the last 3 or so at a moderate effort (as I type this on Saturday, the family is about to head up to Maine, where I'll run with my RWOL friend "joew" on Sunday)
With the overages, that should come out to around 67 miles, and though I feel some degree of fatigue, I'm not feeling any signs of injury.  Having had a mini-heat wave, with temps up over freezing, has made the last couple of days very pleasant.

Frankly, with all the work involved in getting my new office off the ground, I've had to make the choice to run instead of think, write and blog about running.  I've had a great deal of logistical frustration this past week (some of which remains unresolved), but the good news is that a number of new/prospective clients have already managed to find me, despite not yet even having an official office phone line.

I should also mention briefly about the horror in Haiti.  I cannot do much in terms of money, but I will be providing free consultations to any Haitian community member who may qualify for Temporary Protected Status under the Department of Homeland Security's recent declaration. It's refreshing to see a modicum of humanity come out of the Executive Branch.

So, with my target mileage creeping up into the 70's and beyond, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post, but I do hope at least to keep sharing numbers and general impressions.

Stay warm and run well.

-ESG/Ron

    3 comments:

    L.A. Runner said...

    Very solid week! Looks like you're off to a great start.

    rovatti said...

    but I will be providing free consultations to any Haitian community member who may qualify for Temporary Protected Status

    Strong work! Keep it up!

    I was going to reply re: ultras on Agile's thread, but I didn't want to highjack her...

    IMO, there is some CONFLICT in ultras and trail racing - on one hand competing/racing, but on the other hand avoiding judgement. Why not just hike or run for fun with friends?

    If someone runs a 50K or 50mi or up Kilimanjaro or across the Gobi desert - it's an impressive feat, but how can one judge the time?

    OTOH, if rovatti runs a 3:02 this spring it will be obvious where things stand...

    Stevi N. Honaker said...

    Great work Ron! So many changes going on for you right now, and your keeping your running strong (that's no easy task).