Welcome back to my training diary as I work toward Boston 2008. It’s a long way off, and if you read last week’s entry, you know that I’m just taking it slowly as I get back into my running after at least eight weeks off with the new baby. (He’s doing great, by the way!)
I’ll start by clarifying something. After last week’s post, there was some confusion as to why I would be spending so much energy working on speed early in the season. Good question. The answer is that I would really like to run a PR half-marathon in the spring before Boston, so over the early part of this training cycle, I will be dedicating a lot of time and energy to speed work. After the half-marathon, then I’ll build some additional distance for Boston to close out my training. But I’m not seeing Boston as a particularly fast race, due to the difficulty of the course and the crowds. I feel like its one to savor and enjoy rather than race full-out. I’m very much looking forward to having a great Boston experience, taking pictures, interviewing other runners and writing a lot about it to share with all of you. So, to reiterate, lots of speed early in preparation for my mid-term goals and then kick it up a notch on the distance to have a great time in Boston at the end of the cycle.
Right now, I’m really just trying to focus on getting out the door with my shoes on and making it to the track at least once a week – for another week anyway. I’m developing more of a routine now and I was greatly aided when I was almost pushed out the door on a very rainy evening to get my run in. It would have been nice to have just continued playing with the baby in the warm confines of the living room, but that’s not going to get it done.
My track session for the week felt much better than last week. It’s always interesting to me how quickly it starts coming back, but how bad it feels for the first two or three weeks. Everything from your form, to your breathing, to your gear feels funny on the track at first. Then it just starts to settle in and you find your groove. I haven’t quite found mine yet, but it’s out there.
Yesterday, I met my friend Andy Glassner and we headed out for our long run at the Nike campus in Beaverton. It was a gorgeous, misty morning and we enjoyed the easy pace. We ended up back at the cars after about an hour and ten minutes of running and decided to call it a day. We both felt like we wanted to run more, but we agreed that there was really no reason to push it this early in the season.
Things are feeling pretty good so far. My knees are bothering me when I walk up and down the stairs carrying the baby late at night. It’s sort of an awkward lean foward with all that weight on the knee as you go up and down the stairs. I’ll try to get back in the gym this week and start working on my flexibility.
I hope all of you are having great success in your own training. With the Thanksgiving holiday coming, I’m sure many of you will get in a “Turkey Trot” or some kind of running event. Good luck out there and have fun!
Weekly Summary:
It was another good base-building week. The legs are starting to feel better and I didn’t feel quite so cow-like on the track. Our long run felt totally comfortable and we could have easily run much longer. It was a nice feeling to cut it off we we ended it knowing that there wasn’t really any particular need to run further this weekend.
Weekly Log:
Run #1 - ~6 miles
Run #2 – ~ 7-8 miles
Run #3 - ~ 4 miles with 2 miles up-tempo
Run #4 – 4 miles @ track with a series of build-up 100s, then 400s @ 1:18-1:22 pace.
Rest days: 3
Total Miles: not that many
Want to join me in Boston? Join my virtual training team for the Boston Marathon 2008. For more information click here. Training teams for other 2008 will be announced shortly. Click here to read about my other coaching programs.
Coach Joe English, Portland, Oregon, USA
