Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

Bored, so I made a graph.  Inverse relationship?

4 miles on the TMs at work, had to be there early today.

most pitiful marathon training cycle ever...  I really have no business running a full marathon next month (on 45-50 mpw) but I will anyway!

41F, 7:15 AP.  Easy with a 3-mile mini tempo @ GMP (6:40) on the way back.  Hoping to get a real MP run in this weekend.

The triage on my plan means focusing on MP and LT this next month, with maybe 1 more speed session in the next couple weeks.  I don't think I've put in the mileage to be able to hold my GMP for a full marathon, but hopefully I'll have some good indicator workouts in the next month.

AM: 43F, 6 @ 8:18 AP.

PM:  30 min on the gym treadmill at work after gorging at a Chinese buffet....bad idea on so many levels.

43F, 7:24 AP.  Progressed to a GMP mile on the way back.  As I finished up, I enjoyed the last glimmer of light I'll get for awhile on these early morning runs, thanks to DST.  Stupid DST.

4 neighborhood miles after a nice afternoon nap.

43F, N 12 mph.  6:54 AP.  Feeling good today (I'm in a constant tapered state).  The plan was an 8+8 to see where I was at.  The 8 ez miles outbound were fairly quick and coming back I went way faster than the 6:40 target.  The last 8 miles:

8 @ 6:26 AP (6:37, 6:32, 6:30, 6:30, 6:26, 6:21, 6:20, 6:10).

Mostly aerobic the whole time, except toward the end.  This tells me I've still kinda hung on to a decent threshold speed/fitness.  What I need now is longer runs @ 6:40.  On this lower mileage, the gap between what I can do on a training run and what I'll be able to do in a full marathon is going to be a lot wider.  So if I can complete some longer tempos @ 6:40, then run ~6:45 for the first 17 at Boston (as opposed to the 6:35 I did last year), I think I'll have enough gas left to tackle Newton hills and finish strong, despite the lack of endurance.  Theories are fun.

52F, 8:36 AP.  Dark Monday...

AM: 5 on the TM at work; was going to do 10 outside this morning but my truck (which I only drive about once a month) broke down on the way this morning, so today will have to be a TM double.  I've had that truck for 12 years, bought it right after I graduated from college, but the ol' girl is past her prime and seems to cost money every time I decide to drive it...

PM: 4 in the afternoon on the TM at work.  Would have been easy to blow off running today, but glad I put in the miles; this make-it-happen attitude came easy last year but not so much this past year.

I told the guys at the mechanic's I was going to donate the truck to charity and there was some interest, so I'll probably sell it to one of them at a deeply discounted rate (does that count as charity?)  They are putting their names in a hat in the morning to see who gets to buy it...guess my price was a little too low!  Anyway, I'll miss the truck....went to go clean it out today.  There was actually an old engagement photo in there from 12+ years ago that I'd kept in there.  Danielle and I look like little kids.

52F, N 20-30 mph. 7:13 AP.  About a 10k warmup and then 7 x (3 min on 1 min off) on the way back.  Normally I just do 800/200 at the track but it was a bit too windy.  I got mostly tailwind for my repeats though any wind is greatly muted on the wooded trail I use.  The "on" portions were 10k pace and the "off" portions were active recoveries.  My paces for the "on" portions were 5:59, 6:03, 5:55, 5:52, 6:02, 5:56, 6:00.  A little more variation than there would be at the flat track, but a good workout that I can recover from relatively quickly.  The focus will now lean more heavily toward MP.

44F, 8:08 AP.  In Houston for a couple days.

55F, 7:24 AP.  Ran from my parents' to Memorial Park for a couple loops, and back.  I got passed by a trio running together.  I stayed a ways behind them for a mile or so to see how fast they were going....about 6:50.  I hatched a plan to stay about 50m back until about half a mile before I had to peel off the trail to head home, at which time I would blow by them for the win.  They ended up stopping before my plan could come to fruition though.  Man, there is just something in the brain that cannot stand getting passed by other runners...

64F.  Easy 30-min run before leaving Houston.  Hoping for a decent MP run tomorrow, though I'll be staying out a little late tonight.

Total fail, though I was pretty sure it would be.  Danielle and I celebrated our anniversary last night...great night, but when you're going to bed and setting your alarm for 3 hours later, there's a good chance things aren't going to work out very well for your run.

Danielle is going out of town for the next week to give her family some much needed help.  Running will take a back seat again as I shuffle kids and work, but maybe I can make some stuff happen on the treadmills.  Crazier things have happened, I suppose...

On the work TM before lunch, I did a 1.5 w/u followed by 5 x 1 mile, with 1/4 mile recoveries.  For the fast miles I did 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, and the last repeat was a combination of speeds that resulted in 1.25 miles in 7:09 (5:43 pace).  It felt easier than it should have today, which is why I just kept running harder on the last repeat (last half mile @ 11 mph).  A combination of rested legs and questionable TM calibration, I'm sure.  Still a good strong effort - didn't have the time to go long, so went fast.

Had time for a quick 5 on the gym TMs at work.  Mostly MP, with another fast finish.

Likely no run tomorrow...

White space on the calendar closed up....nothing.

Looking like 9 full days of no running.  I would run today but I'm super-behind at work.  Danielle's mom passed away from a long battle with cancer...she will be (and is) missed very much.  Running a good Boston marathon took a back seat.  I will start up tomorrow, but obviously missed the window to run a decent marathon.  Now, at least, I can enjoy the scenery and enjoy the race unlike last year's bonkathon.

52F, 7:57 AP.  A run, after 11 days off.  Salvage plan is to build up easy runs this week, get used to running again, fast finish LR on Sunday (a week from now), then MP tempo ten days out.  I won't PR, but I will still enjoy the race.  Going back to a normal routine on Monday will help a lot.

62F, 7:38 AP.  Felt better than yesterday, still sucking a lot of air but it's probably good for me.  Quads were actually a little sore from the 6-miler yesterday...it's been that long I guess.  No time to ease into it now though!