Fantastic Mileage Week

Do you ever have a perfect week in running? This was a perfect week in terms of overall mileage on the road and my overall perception of the week. Since being selected to Pace the 4:30 finish time for the Salt Lake City Marathon i've been extra motivated to meet my BQ goal in June. This past week we added our 4th day to our training.

We've been working on building our endurance to the point where we could comfortably add a 4th day to our training regimen. A lady in our neighborhood asked if she could join us on our long runs for the week. Up until this point, our long run was on Monday. This worked best because of schedules. It was easier to take off mid-day on monday for a 3 hour run then working one in on Saturday. The guy I run with is also a Boy Scout leader and he's gone at least one Saturday a month on a camp out.

Here's how the week went:
Monday: Long run of 18 miles. It was quite a change from the week before when we ran 16.5. One thing we both noticed was how important some sort of caloric intake is needed during a long run. We didn't take a GU until about mile 13 which was probably 5 miles later than we should have. By mile 14, we were both struggling.

Tuesday: off

Wednesday: 8 mile suncrest hill. This is the hill that make novices wet themselves. It's a steep climb up and a fast down. If you want a long climb to prep your calves, this is the hill. We parked toward the start of the climb so we wouldn't have all the preliminary miles to go before starting the climb. It was hard. I was dying. It was worth it.

Friday: 8 miles flat. The goal was to stay close to an 8:00 pace the whole time. I don't know if I was still recovering from suncrest or if I was just off, but it was awful. My shins burned the whole time. An 8 min/mile seemed to be near impossible. I wasn't thrilled with the run.

Saturday: 18 miles with an additional runner. After Friday, I was wondering if I would make it even 5 miles. It took about 4 miles to get the muscles stretched out and ready for the run, but it turned out well. We added a lady from our neighborhood who is running the same race we are in June. She asked for something between 16-18 for this run. We chose 18 thinking that it might be a stretch for her, but not too bad. About 6 miles into the run, we found out that her longest run in about 4-5 months has been 12. Oops! By the end of the run (which turned out to be 19 because we dropped her off and then ran back home) she was pretty spent.

53 miles for the week! That is a major accomplishment. I used to wonder what it would be like to hit 50+ miles and now I know. It requires a lot of time on the road.

As a reward for my massive miles, I picked up a new pair of shoes. The ones I had for the 19 mile run are looking more and more like racing flats. I probably won't retire them, but they will get significantly less miles. Welcome Brooks Launch to my running regimen.

This week, my running friend is in Cancun. I'll pull back on my miles a little, but still get in four days. I'm actually really excited for the next few months to see what I can do to increase my miles from here.