Starting Up For Austin

This past week, I tallied up 30 miles to get me back into the swing of training. It was quite a jump from the big fat goose-egg the week after TC Marathon. It was great to take that week off altogether.

Last Sunday, I did something I never have before: watch a marathon live on the course. I headed downtown to the Chicago Marathon and cheered on a ton of runners. Warm weather again. It was a great scene, and it made me realize that I am ready to start eyeing the next prize.

Yesterday's 14-miler went alright, I suppose. However, I did feel a bit fatigued at the end. I suppose it's not surprising that I am not fully recovered from the TCM.

I'm trying to get my head around how to start up for Austin. It seems simple, right? Just start running like I have in the past. Provided I am recovered enough, it's straightforward.

I guess what I am wrestling with is how I can be sure to make serious gains on this next one. I'm serious. No messing around. I want to make a serious charge at sub-3.

How can I do it? More lactate threshold. More pace miles. Fewer distracting races along the way that hamper my progress. In fact, I really have no plans to run a single race between now and February 15th, 2009 in Austin.

Starting tomorrow, I will try to hop onto the Pfitzinger 70mpw program. All easy miles to start with. Since we are 17 weeks out from Austin today, I am entering week #2 of the 18 week program.

Last post, I mentioned that I was in the market for a treadmill. We found what seemed to be a pretty sweet deal on the Pacemaster Platinum Pro VR. It's all set up and ready to go.

I've a date with the 'mill at 5:45 AM in my musty basement, in which I have set up a TV and stereo to pass the time and the miles.