Training Recap: Week 19, Dec 05 - Dec 11

This was an interesting week not so much for any particular training highlights but for meeting new teammates on Team Red Cross, and also discovering others (and being discovered) through this blog and social media / twitter. Also I am laying the groundwork for a first fundraising event and hoping to get that set up shortly. You'll find that I've added links to other running blogs and started to build a list of "partners" who are helping me (and others on the team).

Today it was a pleasure to meet Karen Teller captain, Dan Fitzgerald coach and Justin of SEAC>>>>Boston, and a number of runners from the team. We met at SEAC and ran a 10 mile loop through the city. It was a very crisp and cool morning but gloriously sunny for a run through the South End, Boston Common, Cambridge, Charlestown, the waterfront, a bit of South Boston and back.  The pace was nice and easy but perfect for conversation as the teammates got to know each other "on the run". We topped it off with a nice brunch at Tremont647. I found it enlightening to hear that nearly everyone at the table said they are on this journey to Boston because someone that they know encouraged them and said "you can do it!" I know it rings true in my running experience dating back to before high school when I ran XC.


Training this week: 38 mi tot (about the same as last)
 
M: 4mi
T: 5.9mi tot - warmup, then 3X {1200m tempo, 2 min recovery} {4:45, 4:37, 4:28}, cooldown
W: 7.2mi planned recovery pace went a bit faster in miles 4-7 with several close to 7:00/mi
T: 4.9mi tot - 4.6mi moderate pace, inspired final 3.6 pushing it 7:03, 6:53, 6:32, 6:42/mi, then 4X ~100m strides
F: off
S: 5.8mi easy- participated in first portion of 13.1 mi long run that Joe & Will completed, opting to save some of my energy for Sunday's first long run with Team Red Cross. Probably too early for weekend warrior heroics.
S: 10 mi city loop with Team Red Cross
Garmin Connect - Map of Team Red Cross run through Boston

Looking ahead: Next week is going to be a fairly significant step, with plans for 5000m of tempo  in the Tuesday workout, decent mid-week longer run, hill repeats, and then a 17 miler on Saturday. That's the plan at least, and I'm hoping we can register another successful week as we inch closer to the marathon.

Summary through 4 weeks: