Steady does it

With today's treadmill workout at the gym, I successfully completed a 33 mile week. This total surpassed my goal this week of 32 miles.

Yesterday's run of 12.6 miles at the Morton Aboretum with the CARA group went very well. I did not experience any pain at all, and I felt like I glided through the workout with relative ease.

Bear in mind that the MA course loops (both east and west side of the park) are somewhat hilly. Not quite as hilly as the towns of Ridgefield and New Canaan, Connecticut (where I used to run this time last year before moving), but hilly by Chicago area standards. This run even included a 4.7 mile loop completed in 35:00 (7:22 pace), during which I felt comfortable and strong.

Mon - 3.1 mi. - local neighborhoods
Tue - 4.6 mi. - local neighborhoods
Wed - 3.4 mi. - local neighborhoods
Thu - 5 mi. with 2 at LT pace - local neighborhoods
Fri - Rest
Sat - 12.6 mi. - Morton Aboretum - total average pace of 7:48
Sun - 4.4 mi. - treadmill - with some hill work (incline up to 5.5% for 30 sec intervals)

Total: 33 mi.

I will continue on with Hal's Boston Bound Plan, with the minor adjustments as usual. This coming week will be extremely cold. The forecast has the "Realfeel" in the range of -5 to 10 over the coming days.

On the positive side, today's treadmill run wasn't as horrible as usual. Usually, I am mentally challenged to endure the monotony. I think I learned to condition my mind to think about other things. This is good progress, since I will likely be inside a few days this week.

I am regaining confidence on the stability of my left leg. I am continuing to strengthen my glutes.

This week's mileage goal: 40 miles

There are 7 weeks until the March Madness half marathon, which will be my first race in months. I am one of the fortunate 1,000 participants in this sold out event.