What was that?

Wow! What a great spring day we had here today! At noon it was 10C (50F) with sunshine and light southwest winds so the decision to wear shorts and a long sleeve top was made for todays 90 minute effort. This has got to be the 1st time ever for me in shorts in January but I'll check the logs later; crazy weather!

So far this week I've been busy, on the run delivering our daughter and her cat back to college in Truro and then work has been hectic as I prepare for a long round of meetings next week in Halifax. There was time for a quick run on Tuesday before we headed back home. It was a warm morning, about 8C with a light rain but I was feeling very sluggish and slow with tired legs from Sunday's run. Managed a total of 8 miles in 67:00 in a very draggy run. Maybe it was the lack of coffee before the run but that's doubtful. In fact on Monday, my regular day off, I was weary/tired most of the day and even went to bed early after our 4hr drive.

My Weds run was a rushed effort with a shortened run after a busy day at work and then not being able to get going right away. I managed only 8 miles and threw in a set of 10x25sec strides to loosen up the legs. Andrew would not have approved today's route across the ocean floor to Minister's Island and the backroad trails that were covered along the way. Feeling a bit slow but the pace was OK at close to 8:00/mi.

Today's run was another story with the legs and body finally coming around for a change. I'm afraid that there will be payback for my exhuberance later in the week but when you're feeling good it's hard to hold back some days. With an extended lunch I was able to squeeze in a 90 minute run with some tempo on this gorgeous 'spring' day. The run was done as an out and back with the out at a relaxed easy pace for the 1st 47:00. At the turn I increased the pace and did 2 miles at tempo (1/2 marathonish pace) with splits of 7:05 and 7:11 back into a slight headwind and hills. I then took a break intending to jog the rest of the way in but lo and behold spotted another runner off in the distance. The bait was immediately taken and the pace increased with the next 2 miles in 7:03 and 7:23 as it became apparent I wasn't going to make a catch. Oh well, made for a good 2nd half of the run for a total of 11.7 miles in 91:00. The rest of the day was spent with a happy tired feeling in my legs and body, mmmm!

A quick update on my training plan such as it is. Tommorow it will be 100 days until Boston and soon it will be time to start some marathon specific training. My current base is mileage/time aka Lydiard with 60, 90, 60, 120, 60, 150+ minute runs through the week with one day off usually Monday. Next week is a rest week where I'll be cutting the time factor by 50% except for the sacred long run on Sunday. I'm now throwing in a few short speed tempo sessions courtesy of BC Mike but after that the speed / tempo / marathon pace sessions will come from the Renato Canova plan that Coach Andrew is also subscribes to. The base miles (time) will stay the same and may slightly increase giving me about 70 miles/week for the next dozen or so weeks before the taper kicks in. And that's all she wrote!

Happy running!