Another 60 miles - Steady Does It

Hi. I am back and ready to report my training progress with only six weeks to go until my sub-3 hour marathon.

I completed another 60 miles this week with some east coast travel intermixed. I guess it was successful, but there were no major breakthroughs. No highs, no lows - just steady mileage with some good workouts. Here is a brief recap.

Mon 8/21 - Holmdel, NJ - HS track - 9 mi w/6x600. I visited my brother's house before heading to a business trip in NJ. I hit the local HS track in the early morning. After a 2-mile warm-up in the rain, I began the repeats. I hit the first one at 2:20, which was slow. I did hit my groove and was able to hold the remaining 600m repeats at 2:15 (6:00/mi pace), which I think it my 5k pace about now. Wrapped up with another 4 miles easy.

Tue 8/22 - Norwalk, CT - 9 miles - 7:31/mi avg. Excellent jaunt through my old residential area, challenging hills. Ran straight through with no breaks. Impressive pace given the steep hills.

Wed 8/23 - Back home in Plainfield, IL - 6 mi recovery. Nothing special.

Thu 8/24 - Home turf - 13 miles - 7:43 avg. Challenging run through the humidity - ran 10.5 mi with the hydration belt and no stops.

Fri 8/25 - Home - 6 mi recovery. Mid-day run in the heat/humidity. Again, nothing special.

Sat 8/26 - Wheaton Prairie Path - 18 miles. The path terrain was very wet and sloppy from the major storm the prior two days. Many of the trees were downed and blocking the path. This run was full of many interruptions due to downed trees. My final six were pretty strong. I got in 18 miles at 7:32 pace avg. I will say I felt a bit tired toward the end.

This week, I will prepare for the Labor Day 30k on this coming Saturday in Milford, MI. Jen and I will take a road trip over to MI. I grew up in the Detroit area so it is somewhat of a homecoming for me.

I am nervous about tomorrow's workout: 6x1000m repeats at 5k pace with 90 sec in btw. Am I ready for this kind of intensity? Pfitzinger believes this is an important workout to improve speed for the marathon.

Plan for 8/27 week

Mon 8/27 - 11 miles w/ 6x1000m repeats at 5k pace with 90 sec in btw
Tue 8/28 - 14 miles med-long run - Happy Birthday to me
Wed 8/29 - 10-11 miles
Thu 8/30 - Rest
Fri 8/31 - 5 mi recovery
Sat 9/1 - 30k race

Total: 59-60 miles