February 6 - 12 Training

Mon: AM - 10 miles easy with one mile of 100m strides, 100m jog (7:13);  PM - 5 miles easy (7:40)

Tue: AM - 10 miles easy (7:12); PM - 5.1 miles easy (7:56)

Wed: AM - 10 miles with 2x2 miles tempo with 1/2 mile jog.  The goal was to run the first 2 miles tempo at 5:15 pace and then the second at 5:05 pace.  The first two miles actually didn't feel too bad and was able to complete it in 10:26 (5:13, 5:13).  The second 2 miles, however, was very tough.  I came through the mile in 5:03.  I was hurting pretty good and even doubted myself that I could run another mile at 5:05.  So, I decided to take a very short rest before proceeding with the last mile.  Ended up running a 5:07 for the last mile.  PM - 6 miles easy (7:20)

Thu: AM - 8.4 miles easy (7:41).  Yesterday was 66 degrees and sunny, and 12 hours later it's 30 deg and snowy!  PM - 4.7 miles easy (7:38)

Fri: 8 miles easy with 8x20s pick-ups (7:19); big workout tomorrow, so only one run for the day.

Sat: 20.1 miles with first 6 miles at 6:15, 6 miles of 3:00 at 5:30 pace, 2:00 at 6:15 pace, 1 mile jog, 6 miles at 5:45, 1 mile cool-down. (5:59 overall avg).  Tough long run workout.  The first 6 miles moderate (37:09, 6:11 pace) felt nice and comfortable.  After the moderate 6 miles, I rolled right into the fartlek workout, which I programmed into my watch as 7x3:00/2:00.  With the prescribed paces (5:30/6:15), the 7 repeats put me at 6 miles (6.08 to be exact).  The fartlek went really well for the first 5 repeats. It wasn't until the last two repeats that the paces started to feel tough and the legs feeling like bricks.  During the mile jog, I thought to myself "how in the world was I going to run 6 more miles at 5:45 on heavy and tired legs."  It turned out that my legs were able to handle the 6 miles at MP effort.  I ran the 6 miles in 34:05 with the mile splits at 5:38, 5:42, 5:40, 5:41, 5:41, and 5:40. 

Sun: AM - 8 miles easy (7:41); PM - 4 miles easy (8:10)

Weekly Total: 100.3 miles on 12 runs/ 7 days
This was the toughest training week so far of my Boston Marathon training cycle.  The volume is down a little (though, I still hit triple digits), but Saturday's workout made up for it.