8 Miles??? FUGGEDABOUT IT.

Another training week in the books and, coming with it, a motivating streak remains unbroken. I've been running (pun intended) on a bit of a hot-streak here with training going better than expected leading up to the National Half Marathon. My last 8 runs have all come in just under my 8:00 min/mile goal pace and it's feeling great. Wohoo!!

Yesterday's 8-miler was a bit weird, but finished off as one of my best runs ever. You see, it had snowed a ton the night before making an outdoor run at-pace nearly impossible b/c not only were there no cleared trails or sidewalks, but the roads were barely drivable as well. Instead, I opted to do the run indoors on a treadmill. This would be the longest treadmill run I've ever done, the previous record being 6 miles about two years ago this same time of year. After I got going on the treadmill about 0.8 miles in the run, the f-ing fire alarm went off at the YMCA and we all had to exit the building and stand in the cold for 15 minutes. Nice, huh? Eventually, the fire department let us all back in and I was able to hop back on the treadmill. 7.02 additional miles later, and I had myself a nice 7:55 min/mile pace, with room to spare... physically speaking, of course.

This bodes very well for the future, but then again perhaps it is right where I should be at this stage in my training. Of course, if I were averaging 8:05 or 8:10 min/mile pacing I might be in the early stages of crumbling mentally. Never-the-less, I am where I am and I'm cautiously optimistic about race-day. At this point, my largest remaining concern is that my training program has me maxing out at a 10-mile run the week before the race, leaving a full 5K left to achieve on race-day. Given how I felt after this last long-run, I'm not too worried. I can mentally break the run up into (assuming I'm on or below pace) a 2-mile "just hang on to 8:00min/mile" and then a 1.1-mile balls-out victory lap approach. Easier said than done, right? I've got a few weeks left in my training before I can fully address this issue.

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FIVE FOR FIVE

I nailed my 7-miler on Saturday, fighting temps in the low 20s and wind-gusts upwards of 35mph! Yikes! I came across the line in 55:28, officially 25 seconds faster than my goal-pace with an average pace of 7:55min/mile. Wohoo! In retrospect, that 25 second buffer is practically nothing... the difference between going out too fast or getting a mild-cramp during the last mile. On the other side of the coin, running a 7:55min/mile instead of a 8:05min/mile is HUGE, right? From what I read of other people's blogs, sometimes they don't expect to make improvements of more than 1-2 minutes off of a race time THE WHOLE YEAR. Of course, these folks are usually in peak physical condition having already raced for a number of years so there is arguably less room for improvement on their end.

Never-the-less, I am really happy with my progress thus far and just hope I can continue to make these improvements.

Oh, and holy crap... we had a 61*F day on Thursday! Before you get too excited, though, we've got a day coming up this week with a low of 2*F. Sweet.

The weight loss has plateaued thanks to these, by the way...

These will be the death of me. I found them at a grocery store in PA
still in their box the day before Valentine's Day.

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Running on a Hot Streak

So I'm running on a bit of a hot-streak lately and I figure I should try and get some positive mileage out of the feeling before it ends. :) As of late, I've put in four runs in a row, all under an 8:00 min/mile pace! You're probably scratching your head and giggling to yourselves b/c a barely sub-8 pace in the racing/blogging community is more often a prerequisite rather than a bragging point. However, in my case, it's DEFINITELY a bragging point!

I knew things were on the up-and-up when last weekend's 6-mile run went nearly as well as could be. I was down in PA visiting family and knew there was a great plowed, uninterrupted trail that I could indulge myself in. It was one of those rail-to-trails which made me figure it was nearly pancake flat, i.e. perfect for speeeeeeed. So, with high hopes and higher confidence I set off. The first few miles were SPECTACULAR... as in sub 7:40min/mile spectacular (keep in mind my 5K PR is at 7:42min/mile). But thennnn, the turn-around hit. Whaaa uh oh! All of a sudden my 7:40s turned into 8:10s and 8:20s and the calves started feeling a little taxed. That's when I realized this trail wasn't exactly... well... flat. :) Lets take a look!

Is that the letter "v"???

Thankfully, I do "my best work" after the midpoint in a run. If I can keep my shit together until halfway through, that's when I can dial it in mentally and go for broke. So, when the hills came, so did the mental toughness! I put the hammer down and nailed my sub-8 goal.

As an encore, I nailed my two 4.5 mile runs from this week in under 8:00min/mile averages as well, sneaking the first run 1 second under my goal and then knocking 9 seconds off of the second one! Niiiiiiiiiice. Next up? Seven miles this weekend!

Ya know, after a rough stint there with some swollen knees, I started having some doubts about hitting an 8:00 min/mile average for the upcoming half-marathon. However, given the results of recent weeks, I feel like I'm right on track for achieving my goal. In the meantime, it's back to work trying to train smart and stay injury free.

Spring is right around the corner!

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