Tuesday, December 06, 2005

50 is my favorite number

Let me count the ways... First this is my 50th post and still just getting the hang of this blogging thing. You can see that I had problems with the formatting of my last post in trying to insert a table. It sort of works but seems to extend out to and overlap with the sidebar. Any hints on how to fix this on my blog?

50 is also the number of miles I ran last week and the number I plan to run at a minimum for the next 18 weeks. That's if things go according to plan and they rarely do.

50 is also my age and the past year has been a good one in many ways. Stepped back a bit from my running as far as mileage and took it easy. Did a reduced mileage marathon plan for both Boston and the fall marathon and still did reasonably well. Didn't run in that many races to take advantage of my new age group but placed well in age group when I did.

Today's run was per the new schedule which had 6miles easy with strides. Check! Had a nice easy run around The Point with 6x100m or so strides on a flat piece of road near the end of the run. Only did 6 strides as I was starting to feel tired/tight and didn't want to push it. The run felt great, especially the 1st few miles and legs felt fresh after a day off. Weather was cool and overcast with a slight wind, about -3C but no flurries as predicted.

4 comments:

Dawn - Pink Chick Tris said...

Its also my age at least for another month and a half. As for your formatting problem. It's because of the table width. Viewing your source says the table is set at "693". That makes your post area wider than it should be. Try using percent instead of an exact size. For example when I create tables, I use "95%". The only problem is it may cause some issues with your column width. They too are set as exact size and percent will work better there as well. You'll likely need to play with it to get it to work with the percents.

The other alternative is to change your template. Your current template allows for a header with of 660 which is your post area(440w) and side bar(220w)combined. To accomodate this table you would need to increase any 660 to a really big size and anyone with a small screen would run into problems. Am I getting to techie. Sorry its the geek in me...lol.

Andrew said...

A good plan there Mike. With those long runs, it looks like we'll be getting together for some nice Sunday morning strolls. 70 mpw should really give you good conditioning. Have you run that type of mileage before? If you have not, then from what I have read, it will do wonders. I am trying to reconcile your early AM runs with your notorious late morning wake-up. Or do you mean early AM as in 1AM?

When the bay freezes, I'll jog over some morning and join you for some of those downhill repeats. I was galloping down Washington Street in Eastport this morning and thinking, "I wouldn't want to be running any faster!" And to think you purposely bolt downhill!

Love2Run said...

Thanks Dawn, I'll see if I can fix that myself. Might need more hints if I get stuck...

Andrew, I've run close to this mileage before in the buildup to my Kentville PB in 2003. Average of 58/wk over 18 weeks, this time it would be avg of 67. The number of long runs is the same with 10x18+ and 6x20+ over the same period.

The only other 'extra' is the crazy downhill Boston specific stuff which I found makes a big difference if the weather cooperates and allows you to race it. I try to run these carefully on dirt or grass with special attention to how the legs are feeling. As to early AM, for me that would be about 6:30AM with the option of crawling on the treadmill which avoids the pitstop problem I have with early morning runs!

Looking forward to new routes on the long runs with you. TTYL, Mike

Dawn - Pink Chick Tris said...

Sure Mike, email me if you need further help. I made my template wider so I could put in bigger stuff, but it is something you have to be careful with.