ADELANTE!

Try and figure out what has changed in my training. I realized that I am very strong, aerobically, running on this mountain day in and day out, however, all this mountain running has left me lacking what makes a runner special: speed and intensity. So, I have re-focused my training and have decided to not run Boston this year, again. I will foucs on an early season 10K-Half Marathon strength based season not focused on times, but strength, and then transition into my first true track season, post-collegiately. The goal is to become a club national champion in perhaps more than one event, but that will be unveiled at a later date. Until then, here is my beginning training... * My supervisor has been in town since Wednesday, and so my training schedule has been altered and rushed. I am not going to a totally intensity-based system. You should still see my mileage in the 90-110M range or more, depending on the week. The only issue I have not ironed out is my racing schedule. I just don...

This week was dominated by my training symposium out in Bothell, Washington, and my "runs" consisted of 60-minute jaunts with the group, running easily along some local paths. Then I figured if I'd traveled all the way to Seattle, I might as well surprise my girls in Houston, so I drove to Huntsville, AL, for a last-minute fare to Houston. My body is a time-zone wreck. Consider it a recovery week, due to all the travel. Monday, 2-12-2007 8 Miles Recovery in Bothell, WA, in 1:00:00 Tuesday, 2-13-2007 6 Miles Recovery in Bothell, WA, in 45:00 Wednesday, 2-14-2007 Travel Thursday, 2-15-2007 AM: 9 Miles Recovery over Pigeon Crest in 1:00:12 PM: 8 Miles Recovery to Pigeon Sign in 51:14 Friday, 2-16-2007 9 Miles Recovery to Pigeon Crest in 1:00:00 Saturday, 2-17-2007 6 Miles Recovery to Morgan's Point in 45:10 Sunday, 2-18-2007 12 Miles Steady on the Seabrook Trails in 1:17:41 Total 58 Miles

And so, I came up with a wry question to myself the other day on a run (I think it was before my 13M Bordin Fartlek in 30-degree rain): "Are you training for Boston, or are you just saying that you're training for Boston?" Big difference there. And so, I am officially training for Boston. So, after a nice weekend, I kicked off this week with a much-needed 20 Mile long run throughout Kennesaw Mountain National Park. As with most of my debut long runs for marathon prep, I started out way too aggressively, attacking all the uphills and downhills, and just enjoying the run, not realizing that I had over 2-hours of hilly running to do and that my muscles probably didn't have enough fuel stored/trained into them yet. Anyhow, I hit Cheatam Hill at 45-minutes, which was perfect, and then embarked on my first journey to Kolb's Farm, a 6-mile loop to finish off the complete National Park. However, my supposed "loop" proved to be too confusing and I got quite lost...

Tough training week. I have been training very hard since I am in a transition week before work really kicks into high gear, so I am sort've in cram mood. I started off the week with some nice recovery but soon got in over my head with my Tuesday track workout. I completely attacked the morning run quite hard on the Mountain, discovering a nice simple 9M loop of hills, and so by the PM, I was pretty trashed and fatigued. Then, with Green aiming for 8 x 800m in 2:16, I didn't want to disappoint and set out to run 2:20's. Well, I did for a couple before adjusting to quarters for one ugly track workout at a beautiful facility at Marist High. Showed some true determination with a 13M Bordin fartlek on Thursday on the Silver Comet Trail (running into the Clemson guys), but fear that since the fartlek was done in the PM, I may not recover in time for my local 5K on the weekend. We shall see. Well, ran the Walton Raider Chase 5K this weekend and won in a Course Record time with a ...