The lowered mileage from last week, and better sleep in the past few days has helped a lot. I feel that I have regained muscle strenth and stamina over the past week-- I have to admit though, that I think it's also because I've gone back to eating meat more frequently. I'll go back to the vedgetable proteins and eggs after the marathon, or when I can more evely space out my 50 miles a week and I'm not trying to run fast or hard (I'm sorry Lucia, I hate reporting this knowing how dissapointed you'll be in me....). The Good news is, I am running 8:13-8:30's with greater regularity again. I've been waiting to announce this until I felt it was not an anomoly. Also, my natural gait finally came back to me! I've been trying to find it again since my abductor and hipflexor went haywire. I've got to remember, it's about not lifting my feet so high off the ground, and moving them faster with a flat footed landing and push off. Occassionally I'll mid-foot it to get in some quick steps and change the impact for a bit. Today's splits: 8:27/8:13/8:23/8:40/8:20/8:17/8:33 This was the best run I've had since August 4th (well, besides the miles and miles of 8:36's on the treadmill, which doesn't feel like real running). Yay! I'm thinking that my strategy for SG will be to take the beginning and the hill's easy, and to really let it out on the downhill portions. I'm still doubtful I can take 15 minutes off my last year's run--actually, now that I think about it, if I just don't have to stop and stand in line for the bathroom twice (like I did last year) it might cut almost 10 mintues righ there. Can you tell, I'm getting excited? | 