Strong comeback week #11 - 56 miles

So this week is complete - and it is exactly 5 weeks until the Tampa Marathon. Training seems to be going well, even with all of the personal distractions. Like today, I completed an (almost) 20-miler, jumped into the shower - only to hear the doorbell ringing from strangers trying to see our house that is for sale. It's been quite a busy week, but I am hanging on and staying focused.

Thu 1/19/06

I got up early to run on this day to run before work. Other than that, I don’t remember anything. I know I did it, though. That’s the beauty of the Polar watch to record the workouts.

DIST: 6.0 – TIME: 44:39 – PACE: 7:24

Fri 1/20/06 – I held out to run until 5:00 PM. I left work a little early to get this done. I flew on this run. Very rapid in very unseasonably warm conditions.DIST – 4.14 – TIME: 29:31 – PACE: 7:06

Sun, 1/22/06 - Now the big one...

Today, I set out for my longest distance run since the Houston Marathon one year ago. My plan was to complete 20 miles at a pace of about 7:45 per mile.

What a glorious day to run. Yesterday, the high reached the high 50’s. Today was much cooler, but crisp and clear. When I started my run, it was about 30 degrees with clear sky and sun.

I’ve been having a number of minor challenges with my distance/heart rate monitor as late. Either I can’t get my HRM to read my pulse, or my distance pod battery dies – or I can’t find the HRM monitor – on and on….

Anyway, today, my distance pod battery died after about 7 or 8 miles. I didn’t feel like turning back so I just trudged on. I showed that I was running faster than 7:45 per mile. So I decided that I would estimate the time that I needed to run assuming a 7:45 pace. I figured that I was running pretty consistently and it was safe to project the 7:45 – even somewhat conservative.

I calculated in my head that I needed to run for 1:52:15 to achieve 15 miles at 7:45 pace. Then I would grab a new battery for my pod for the last 5. That’s what I did. However, after reviewing my run, I recognize that it’s not a good idea to try long division while gutting out a 20-miler.

So, if I look back, my math was wrong. I was off by 4 minutes – or just about a half mile. I should have run about 1:56:15 for a 7:45 pace 15-miler. Oh well...

My final 5 miles were quite strong - about a 7:36 pace.

In summary, I estimate my total run today was approx. 19.5 miles – as opposed to my 20-miler that I had planned. No worries, however, I am pretty certain I could have been able to cover that half last mile.

EST DIST: 19.5 -- TIME: 2:30:00 – EST PACE: 7:42

The weekly summary…

Mon – 18 miles
Tue – 5.3 miles – sloppy run at lunch
Wed – 3.0 miles – horrible windy, rainy weather – treadmill at lunch
Thu – 6.0 miles in the AM
Fri – 4.2 miles – FAST at 5:00 PM
Sat – REST
Sun – 19.5 miles
TOTAL FOR THE WEEK: 56 miles

I think that this week was a PR for total mileage in a single week. Granted, I pushed last week’s long run into Monday due to weather. But nonetheless, it was a good week.