The Week's Miles

Today is four weeks until the marathon. It was one of my toughest weeks of training, a full 70 miles. Because of the half marathon last Sunday, I flipped around some of my training. My schedule called for 11 miles with VO2 max work on Monday. This wasn't going to happen, so I substituted two five-mile recovery runs. I concentrated on the mileage this week, but ended up doing a fast 12-miler, mostly at sub-7 pace. I woke up not feeling great that day, but I had a bit of adrenaline and then met up with a very fast runner to keep my pace. So it was a strange week. I felt very strong running, yet I didn't do tempo or VO2 max. It was topped off with a 20-miler yesterday that was either a bad decision or a sign I'm ready. I ran Central Park in a gusty wind and occasional showers. I appreciate the advice about keeping my training paces down, but at this point I'm running on feel. I know what a fair long run pace feels like. I ended up running a hilly 20 at about 7:15 pace. Afterward, I felt fine, although all the miles made me a zombie last night. My recovery run today sucked for the first few miles, then felt like a breeze. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty confident right now. The injuries are gone, for the most part, and I've never been in better shape in my life. Even when I wake up tired, once I start running my body takes over. This week, I'm back to true speed work. My miles will begin to decrease slightly to 63, a semi-recovery week. There are only two more weeks of tough training before the taper.

5.75 miles, 43:43