Thursday, August 30, 2007

Training Update / Announcement

It has been a great week so far. I have hit every single scheduled mile this week. I aged another year and life is grand.

Monday's speed work was a success. I nailed all six 1000m repeats in 3:43-3:45 range (5:52-6:00/mi pace range) - and kept my recovery jogs to 90-100 secs max. I completed 11 miles total on Monday.

Tuesday's 14-miler was solid also. 7:35/mi avg pace - with with only a very short break for hydration. Later in the day, we celebrated my "official" birthday with a giant pizza pie from Lou Malnati's.

Wednesday was recovery day times two. I did a 6-miler in the morning (8:42 pace) and another recovery 4 miles in the evening . 10 for the day. 35 for the week so far.

Today is rest day (finally). I am now beginning to mentally prepare for the Labor Day 30k on Saturday morning. I'll do a real easy four recovery tomorrow before heading off to Michigan after to work in the afternoon.

Announcement

The marathon taper this year will be more interesting than ever. I have been given an exciting 6-week international assignment. I will be going to China to conduct an opportunity assessment on a Joint Venture that my Company initiated earlier this year with a Chinese company. Real exciting stuff.

That's right, I will begin my taper in Shanghai before heading to Chengdu, China. Our Procurement Head in the Asia Pacific region was kind enough to grant me a "break" to travel back to Chicago to run the marathon on October 7th.

The timing is perfect because I will finish core training on Sep 15th with my final 20-miler. I am really thrilled with this opportunity. I need to make sure I complete the taper effectively so I can run strong when I return home.

8 comments:

LeahC said...

that's so exciting!!! I bet you will have some really great stories of running over there. Nice that you get to go for such a long time. How much before the race will you come home...careful on jet lag.

jen said...

Wow! You get to travel to such interesting places! How exciting. You've got a good attitude- some people let travel be an excuse, but you are like me and see it as an opportunity to run somewhere crazy. :)

Good luck this weekend! I have a feeling you'll do great.

Arcane said...

Happy Birthday! Good luck with the race this weekend.

MNFirefly said...

Wow! That's awesome news. I can not wait for all of the great pictures during the trip. I agree with Leah. Be careful with the jet lag when you come back for the marathon.

Darrell said...

What a great opporturnity. It does put an interesting spin on the training. With your focus you should come through just fine.

yumke said...

Hope the race went well! Happy Bday and hope you have a great time in China! I've been to Shanghai and also Chengdu (a very relaxed city). I remember lots of big streets and I hope you find good running paths in the city. (And stay away from sizzling hot pots, cuase they like their food hot there)

wayfool said...

Wow! Shanghai! That's awesome. My mom was born and raised in Shanghai, so its a kinda a 2nd home for me. While you're there, you have to try the xiao long bao (soup dumplings). Here's a a couple suggetions:

Yang's Fry Dumplings: At this roadside dumpling joint, enjoy a delicious Shanghai treat consisting of dumplings with pork, ginger, spring onions and pork-bone sauce.
Location: Wujuang Road, Shanghai

Nan Xiang Steamed Bun Restaurant: Try the male crab with pork, along with female crab and soup dumplings, a specialty of Shanghai.
Location: 85 Yuyuan Road, Second Floor, Huangpu, Shanghai

Josh Dysart said...

Wow! What an assignment. I'm totally jealous. I'm sure the taper will be much different, but hopefully equally as rewarding.