Boston Training, Week 13

Not much of a running week. I took a few extra days off to rest my aching legs after the hilly race I ran last weekend. But at this point, it is better to err on the side of caution. I spent the entire week icing my legs like a madman.

Tuesday - off

Wednesday - off

Thursday - 7.1 miles at 9:21 pace. I just wanted to go out at recovery pace and get a few miles in and make sure everything felt OK. The only unexpected news was that my left knee was sore. I remembered that it was sore as soon as I finished the race last Sunday, but the pain went away and I forgot about it.

Friday - 4.1 miles at 9:17 pace. Another easy pace recovery run. The left knee was sore again so I didn't push it.

Sunday - 17 miles at 8:50 pace. I had very low expectations for this run. My legs were trashed all week and I was worried about my knee as well as my legs overall. The training schedule called for 17 miles but I really expected to only run 10 and maybe 14 at the very most. I went out nice and slow and decided that I would just run at a comfortable pace for as long as I could handle 9:00 pace. After 4 miles or so, my legs loosened up and the pace improved to around 8:45. Around mile 9, I had to decide whether to keep pushing North or head up the hill toward home. I decided to keep running, figuring I would do the 14. Something happened and suddenly I was running comfortably at 8:30 pace for about 4 or 5 miles. Before I knew it I was at 14 miles and still about a mile from home. I decided to just run 15 and call it a day. When I got to around 14.75 my neighbor came running up the road in the other direction. I turned around and ran with him for a mile then turned around and headed home with 17 miles logged for the day.

So I totally surprised myself today. I think the key was going out slow and just letting my body warm up and dictate the pace. Two weeks until taper so hopefully my legs will be fresh and I can pound out a couple of 50 mile weeks before it's time to cut back. Won't be long now.