Sunday, September 11, 2011

Fall Four: Weekly Round-Up (10)

Time to crank up Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer."  I've reached the mid-point of my training for the Philadelphia Marathon.

I'm very happy with my training.  I know I say this a lot, but things are going really well. I've made a lot of progress in these last few months.  I feel feel faster, and I have stretches on my runs during which I'm able to push myself to run at paces that would have seemed impossible last year.

Of course, when I think about my training and where I want to be by the time I line up at the start in November, I see room for improvement.  I mean, if a certain former governor of Alaska can run a sub-2:00 half-marathon, why can't I?  (Yeah, yeah. First Rule: You do not talk about Fight Club.  You do not compare yourself to other runners.)

I've got just about a month before I run the Army 10-Miler and Baltimore Half-Marathon.  For a while, I thought that the Baltimore Half might be my chance to run a sub-2:00 half.  But, as I think about it more, I just want to enjoy being in Baltimore and running in the race that helped ignite my love of this crazy sport.  It's during the Army 10 that I really want to push myself and crush my time from the Cherry Blossom 10-Mile race in April.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to find the right balance of speed and endurance work.   I'm also  running an 8K this Saturday as part of my long run, just to test my speed.  

Week 12:
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Tempo Run, 45 Minutes 
Wednesday - 5 Miles
Thursday - 4 Miles, Strength training 
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 15 Miles (including 8K race)
Sunday - X-Training, Strength training

Before I dash off, one last thing:

I was going to save this for my Tuesday Inspiration, but I think it's appropriate to post today.  To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Runner's World posted a collection of stories about how that day affected the lives of 13 runners -- Remembering 9/11.  Each story is powerful -- a reminder of the events of a clear Tuesday morning.  As I read each story, I found a reminder to honor those who were lost by living each day to our full potential.

2 comments:

  1. I felt the SAME way when I saw Sarah Palin's finish time since I'm in the process of training for my first half.

    I'm running the same 8K as you this weekend! I'm using it as a tempo run in the middle of my 10-mile long run. We'll see how that goes.

    I can't believe there's less than a month until the Army 10 Miler. This will be my first race in the double-digit mileage realm and I'm so nervous.

    Good luck with your training this week!

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  2. Palin's time is definitely motivation to work harder these next few weeks! :)  Good luck to you as well this week! 

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