Week 4th...

Ok so time for week 4 wrap up. This was a good week for me, once again I did all my mileage in singles. Next week will have one to two double days as I would like to take a day off to rest my left shin which has been feeling funny. Not funny in a Dane Cook way, but in the joker from batman type of way. So lets get started, but first here is a small motivational video about race preparation by Phelp's coach at Michigan.

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Monday (7.3 miles) So today was supposed to be an 8 mile day and this week was supposed to be a 70 mile week. Lets just say with today falling .7 miles short the week, as foreshadowed by today ends a few miles short of its mark. But no worries its still a 8% increase from last week and all quality so I don't mind. Today's run was done at 6:45 pace and felt relaxed. A good beginning to the week.

Tuesday (9.1 miles) A ten miler gone short, well sorry it was cold out today.  Ran for just under an hour or 6:35 pace. Deal with it bitches.

Wednesday (10.6 miles) A nice run over at Mt. Diablo State Park. Started at Regency and took a nice warm up to the start of hell loop (3.3 miles of rolling beauty). I focused on staying relaxed and clocked 22 minutes and change (:27,:10,:15) for each loop hovering me around 6:45 pace for a very unforgiving loop. Very happy with this effort, as I struggled with this trail and holding this pace a few weeks ago.

Thursday (11 miles) Today was only supposed to be a 10 mile run but I feel that cool downs are sometimes needed and neat. I went out to Newhall park and did 2 times 2 loops (2.75 & 2.25 mi). The first two loops were done pretty relaxed at 7:11 and 6:32. However, as the run progressed I felt more in control and started to roll. Clocked 6:20 for the next 2.75 loop and then closed in 5:53 for the last 2.25. Its not really a huge deal since I will run 10 mile Hard Base runs at 5:30 pace but it feels nice to access the other side of 6 minutes. I have yet to do more than 1/2 a run at sub 6 miles and yet to dip below 5:50 a mile yet this base cycle. I feel very strong but I know I am lacking some gears right now because of it. As a side note, 2 minutes in the the run a dog decided to run alongside me and then stop suddenly in my way. Not seeing this I continued with my stride and whacked the dog in the skull with my shin. Needless to say the dog and owner were pretty stunned and semi apologetic. I  just pushed on an ran with a sore shin for the next 4 miles.

Friday (8.1 miles) Headed out with all intention of cruse-ing at 6:30 pace and not wanting to dip below 6:20's however that shit hit the metaphorical fan after 4 miles. I clocked the first 2 in 13 and change and continued that pace through 4. Something happened and then I was knocking off 5:50's like clock work, covering the next 3.3 in 19:19. I decided I would cool down for a little under a mile to keep from tying up.

Saturday (6 miles) I felt like shit. So I went out for just under 40 minutes ~ 6:37 pace. Supposed to be a 8 mile day. Not going to happen.

Sunday (14.1 miles) This run was supposed to happen yesterday, but did not for various reasons. However it did happen and that is all I care about. My legs felt really heavy throughout the entire run, but the pace was perfect. Around 50 minutes in I began to feel pretty good. and hit the 10.1 mile mark at 68 minutes. Though my legs felt tired and chaffing had begun to set in I ever so slightly picked up the pace covering the last 4 miles in around 6:25 pace. Total run time 93 minutes @ 6:40 pace. A very good long run. Time to relax.

Numb3rs : 66.16 miles, 7 hours 20 minutes of running, 6:38 pace for all those miles. Average of 9.5 miles a day and a run.

NextWeekOutlook: The prescribed plan for next week is 74 miles total in singles at 8,10,12,10,8,14,10 miles a day with Wed and Sun being easy days. I will take a day off and double up on a few days. Introducing strides this week.