7 miles in 7:41 pace Met with Coach De Reuck last night at his house and came up with a more concrete race schedule and training plan. As we were meeting in his kitchen, Colleen was there cooking dinner during the second half of our meeting so she threw in a little input which I appreciated. I didn't realize when I signed on for Darren I'd get Colleen as a sub-coach too, but I'll take it! We talked about doing a four week cycle of 70-75 miles one week, then 65-70 miles the next week, 60-65 miles the third week, and 50-55 miles per week as an easier week. He asked me if I thought I could ever hit 80 mpw, and I frankly told him I don't really have the space in my schedule. Plus, going up to 75 is 10 more mpw than I did last summer, so I'm happy with the gradual increase. We revised my race schedule to delete the Skirtchaser 5k (since it is just one week after the Hobblecreek Half and one week before Park to Park), add a 5k tonight, and include another half marathon three weeks out from Baltimore (see race schedule on sidebar). He also suggested getting me into the New Haven 20K on Sept. 6th instead of Park to Park so I could race the elites but I am resisting the idea because I don't see a huge need to travel away from my family when I can stay home and get decent competition, a potential $500 cash prize, and a beautiful course at the Park to Park 10-miler on the same day. I'm still considering it though. It would be good to go race faster women at sea-level in preparation for Baltimore. We talked a bit about goal pace for each race and also made plans for how I will get my weekly mileage in. He wants me to do at least two days where I break my mileage into two runs so my body can recover between each run. I agree with his training philosophy, its just hard for me to take the time for two runs, but I committed to him to do it two days week. I am really excited about the upcoming few months of training and racing and the opportunity to hopefully get the Olympic Trials qualifying time in Baltimore. Darren was laughing about how crafty I am to keep finding good races to run on Saturdays since I prefer not to race on Sunday and he told me that the USA Half Marathon Championships will be in Houston on a Saturday in January and the Olympic Trials are also on a Saturday in Houston in January of 2012. Sweet!
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