The Go Getter

Training has been going well.  This is not to say that it has been perfect, but well nonetheless.  I'll be finishing up my 8th week at 100 or more in a few days, and minus some right hip and calf issues am not too worse for wear.

I have changed my weekly routine this season to follow an up-up-down philosophy with regards to my volume.  Alternating up weeks with marathon pace work - regular long run should prove to be a more sustainable approach; trying to fit 13+ miles at marathon pace, a long run of 20+ miles, and some other type of demanding workout into 7 days is a little bit more than I can handle these days.

My formula of focusing on marathon training seems to have positive effects on my racing shorter distances.  This spring, on an admittedly downhill course, I managed to hit 32:01 for 10k 3 weeks after my lackluster performance at national.  A few weeks back I hit 15:47 for 5k, in my first time under 16 on a hilly course to end a week at 103.  My had a similar large pr, so it was nice for both of us to have the same experience.

On Sunday I got in 14 in 1:18.44 by myself in Rock Creek park.  The temperature was in the 50's, and it just seemed to go by without issue.  I closed the last two miles in what was my high school best, which was swell.

This week will be close to 140, and I'm a bit tired.
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Back in late July I was having issues with regards to being excited about going running everyday.  I had the Clic Fila 5K & Army 10 Miler on my schedule, but I wasn't really filled with a large sense to prepare for them.  Ever since I ran my first marathon back in 2004, I have been a lot more on board with training as long as a marathon is the seasonal goal.  For this reason, and that I tend to run short distance bests in the middle of long mileage blocks, while not doing workouts to target said distances, I think my days of setting aside 3 months to just work on 5k-10k are done.

Put simply, I don't get the level of satisfaction out of training to run for the shorter distances that I get out of the marathon.  I'm not sure why exactly, but I am sure that since this is all about what I want to do, as my financial standing has nothing to do with it, I have decided to just go with it and pursue what I want to.

Now I'd like to actually run one more than 70 seconds faster than I did 6 years ago.