The First 48 of 2008

I completed 48 miles this week, which is right on task with 6 weeks to go to the marathon. Honestly, it felt like a low mileage week -- until today's long run, anyway.

Talk about drastic climate changes. I did wednesday's 11 miler in 8 degree weather - and today's 18-miler in mid-50 degree weather.

I am not going to pretend today's run was easy. The splits look pretty good, but I did not feel as strong as usual. I was tired, to be honest. I believe there are some reasons.

First potential factor was the hard treadmill mileage I did yesterday in attempts to simulate a race of some sort. I did 6:45's for the first four miles of seven for the day.

Second point may be the seven or eight beers I had at a neighbor's "couples" baby shower last night, along with lasagna, chocolate cake -- not to mention a cookie before bedtime. OK, not the smartest move, but they were going down easy and I barely got buzzed off of Beck's Light 64 calorie beer.

Third factor was likely the 20+ mph head winds I faced from mile 9 to 13 heading south today. You can see my HR in the 160's during this stretch when running 7:50's, when I normally would be in the high 140's for such a pace. Once I made the turn to head back east, my HR dropped back into the 150's and I was running 7:30's.

I'm looking forward to rest up tomorrow. Goal for this week is 51 miles with an important marathon goal pace run on Sunday (14 miles out of 17 total). No business travel planned for the foreseeable future. I am in pretty good control of my schedule and hitting all of the miles.

I have run every mile on this training cycle by myself. It's not ideal as I enjoy the camraderie, but I believe that I am one mentally strong runner. I hope I am pushing myself hard enough for BQ fitness.

I can't wait for my new Asics Gel Nimbus 9's to be delivered on Tuesday. I am at 350 on this pair and ready to switch out.