Getting back to Boston

Cut today's planned 18-miler short because of extensive flooding on the RT, plus some rather aggressive geese who thought I was running too close to their goslings. Went to the TM tonight to get the other 6. The legs feel a little heavier than I had anticipated after the 10K, whether that's because the water made me work a little harder, or because I didn't do my planned RR last night, or I didn't stretch enough, or all of the above, I dunno. Could be I'm right on the brink of overtraining, just as I was in early November last year; the taper was enough to get my legs back. We'll see how this week goes; I might dial back this week a bit if the legs don't snap back. Legs REALLY felt heavy on the TM for the first three miles, then felt a little better, which they never did this afternoon on the road.

Another of those runs where I seemed to get stronger as I went along, in par because I started out still sore from the weekend's exertions. Took about four miles to get loose, but by the end, I was kinda cruisin', and GMP for the last 400 was no problem. I felt like I could have easily gone another 4-5 miles -- but I'm glad I didn't. I have enough miles on the docket this week as it is.

I know it's a good idea to try to eliminate as many stressors in your life as you can as a big race approaches, but it ain't working that way for me. I have a son freaking out about graduation, a big trip upcoming, a coworker who just got fired, meaning I have to do two people's work, etc., etc. The good thing about that is it encourages me to get out and run to escape all the other crap. The bad thing is it doesn't help either my peace of mind or my sleep patterns.

Oh well, 26 days to go now. Six days to TAPER MADNESS. 

No running for me today. Tyler's academic awards assembly went from 6 to 8:30, we hadn't eaten, I was starved, and it was too late to eat, then run. So I bagged tonight's 8. Will get up early Wednesday and Thursday and make up those easy miles.

Happy Cinco de Mayo, amigos!

Up early today to make up some of the miles I missed Tuesday night. Easy 4 on the dreadmill at the club. Do it again tomorrow, maybe with strides at the end. Tonight, my interval session on the DM at the fitness room. Warmed up with 3.5, then 6 X 1200 at 6:35 pace with about 4.5 minutes in between, which generally worked out to two laps jogged, then about 2 miles of cooldown. It was hard, but doable, and I was whipped when I finished. But not because I'd taxed my cardio capacity. HRmax, according to the Garmin monitor, was 160. That's about 90% of my heart rate reserve and 92% of MHR. I continue to believe that if my legs ever catch up to my cardio, I might go sub-3 -- but that may never happen.

Double again tomorrow -- easy 4 in the AM, then 15 at night. Because, as far as I know, the trail remains flooded and there was more rain today, I guess I'll have to do it on the DM. Yuck. 

Another double day for me. Four easy this morning, although the jerk on the elliptical next to me was not making it any easier, then 15 tonight. Probably the 15 will be on the dreadmill as well. Oh well. Get through it and get to the taper in three days. Only 23 days to Newport!

Note to self after PM run: Do not do a hard VO2 max run and a medium-long run on consecutive days -- especially if you're also doing doubles on those days. The legs could hardly have been any more dead if I'd had them amputated. No life whatsoever. I had to really struggle to finish 13, and another 20 minutes of torture to get those last two miles didn't seem worth it, especially with a 22-miler in, oh, about 36 hours. So I shut it down and went in search of glycogen replenishment.

Skipped yesterday just to give myself a break, but today wasn't much better, starting the the weather. Huge thunderstorms came through between 4:30-6:30 a.m., so I postponed the run. Sure enough, rain had stopped by then, but there were other issues. Stomach still a bit upset after early Mother's Day dinner last night in Benton with my folks. Didn't sleep well because of the stomach issues. Legs still dead. And humidity was 100%. In spite of all that, set out anyway. First eight miles were OK. STopped at the car at that point to get some Gatorade. Next three miles rough. Humidity getting to me, legs really felt dead. Stopped again for fluids, decided I'd probably cut it off at 19. Then the stomach issues REALLY hit. Got about two miles up Kavanaugh on the second loop, turned around and headed back, and, uh, didn't make it... Wound up with 14.6.

Probably just as well I cut it way off. Another 6.4 wasn't going to make much difference in my fitness, so in essence I started the taper about an hour early :) I'm going to have to be more conservative over the next three weeks to get the legs back. The 20-40% cuts won't get it done IMO.