Speed Demon

I love the transition to speed work. It satisfies the mesomorph in me. But it hurts. Especially during and afterwards... Could hardly manage to keep up with the group on the way back from the track.

I cranked out a 35:03 8K on Tuesday night, which I thought was pretty good after 28.5 miles (45 K) on Sunday. Puts me at about a 3:26:00 marathon - at least in theory according to www.marathonguide.com I love their Training Calculators.

Last night I did eight 800 metre repeats after some accelerations. Most of the clinic had never done accelerations before, so it was interesting watching them let loose with a little speed.

Was happy with my pace and given my relative stiffness and soreness, reined myself in for 3:19, 3:20, 3:20, 3:21, 3:18, and 3:19. Then I ran off a 3:08 and a 2:59, on the last one sprinting all out for the last seventy or eighty metres.

On the last 800, my heart rate at the start was 115 and I crossed the Finish Line at 195. That's a heart rate I haven't seen in a couple of years!

The chickem burrito and black beans I had with Pat for dinner afterwards may have been the best post work-out meal ever!

Was in bed by 10:30 and barely made it that far on the clock. Slept like a log, though with the most vivid life-like dreams.

Walked the dawgs for almost an hour this morning to work out the kinks. I am once again aware I have quadriceps and groin muscles...

Thank God I am in recovery mode today!

Tipped the scales at 186. Time to get serious about the last few pounds!

Work Work Work and Boston Busted

Working and running and writing and running and life and running... Have to squeeze in Blogging in there somewhere!

This past weekend Pat and Rob and I churned out 45 K in five hours on a gloriously sunny if somewhat hot Sunday morning.

It was only Rob's second time out to 45 K and he still finds the distance strange, where as Pat and I have become a little blase about it. Running for five or six hours on a Sunday morning is simply what we do... Nothing special about it.

In fact, thinking back, I have probably been marathon distance or longer at least seventy or eighty times - although on about thirty-five of those occasions, I ended up with a bib number and a medal to show for my effort! If we lived on the East Coast, we'd probably have a lot more hardware, as you can find a marathon to run within driving distance nearly every weekend. And some people collect butterflies...

Afterwards, we skipped past our usual breakfast/brunch buffet and went straight to the burgers and fries. Greasy and delicious. My weight is hovering around 185 and I feel pretty quick.

I have been churning out 8k tempo runs in 35 minutes, so I'm feeling pretty strong.

Strangely, my feet have been feeling bruised and tender, and I haven' switched runners or anything so I will have to keep an eye on my poor tootsies.

I have been doing fartlek work on my mid week ten k run and feeling fast.

This is the point of the training for a marathon where I pretty much just want it to be over with. I get terrible nerves and butterflies from thinking about qualifying for Boston.

And Pat has been ragging on me that I need to change the title of my Blog - Boston or Bust of course - or at the very least the description of my Blog, as I have indeed qualified for and run the Boston Marathon twice already...

Maybe 'Boston Busted'...