Cutback

This was week 6 of Daniels and was a planned cutback week. Kind of weird how 75 miles is now considered cutting back for me....just a few years ago my MAX mileage while training for my second marathon was 55 miles. Oh, how times have changed...

Monday - 6 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. Definitely felt weird to be running so little, but it was enjoyably weird, if that makes sense.

Tuesday - 10.24 miles. I guess that 10 mile loop is actually a 10.24 mile loop. Now I know.

Wednesday - 8 miles with 8 strides.

Thursday - 10 miles including 4x1200m intervals. This was the last warm day of the week and I took advantage by running in tshirt and shorts at lunchtime. The intervals didn't go so well though, thanks to a 20 mph headwind I had to deal with on the backstretch of every lap. This also represented my last track workout of this training cycle, which ain't a bad thing as far as I'm concerned.

Friday - 8 in the morning, 4 in the afternoon. Winter has returned and it ain't screwing around. From 50 on Thursday to single digits (with negative windchills) on Friday. Both runs were done on the indoor track.

Saturday - 8 with 8 strides. Still cold, still on the indoor track.

Sunday - 17 including 2 easy, 3 tempo, 7 easy, 3 tempo, and 2 easy. A lot of stuff was off kilter for this run. For one, I couldn't start until 1 PM because it was too damn cold to run outside (not to mention the crappy footing afforded by a few inches of fresh snow) and the gym doesn't open until 1 on Sundays. So, I started this long run much later than I'm used to. Also, my stomach was giving me fits for, oh, the first 8 or 9 miles. That first set of tempo miles did NOT feel good thanks to the stomach issues. Eventually, it settled down and the second set of tempo miles went much more smoothly (and was faster). It wasn't a fun experience by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a good workout.

Total - 75.24 miles

The mileage should ramp back up this week and hopefully the temperature will follow suit. Running on a perfectly flat track isn't exactly the greatest preparation for the Boston course. I maybe probably kinda sorta think I could run a 4 mile race on Super Bowl Sunday. The sometimes annual Freeze Your Fanny race is held on almost every Super Bowl morning in Sundance, WY. I'd like to run it, but if I do it'll be after doing a long run on Saturday, so I have no illusions of running it all that fast. Right now, sticking to my Boston schedule is more important to me than a 4 mile race, so I'll see how this week shakes out before deciding for sure.