Catching up

Wow, been a while since I posted. Been busy prepping for the move and watching the Olympics. a couple solid weeks (56, and 52 miles the last two on 5 runs per week each). Still not as motivated as I should be.....I really need a scheduled day and lifestyle. This should improve soon as I start my new job on Monday! Too bad I can't move into my new house until Sept 16th.

So some highlights of the last few weeks:

8/6, 8/11, 8/18 I did the same workout. One of my favorite quickies. I run to a track and do a 2 mile run where I run the straight a ways hard and jog the curves. this amounts to a 16x100m surging run. this is much like the 30 sec hard 30 sec easy workout many folks do. I always end running the second mile faster as each successive 100m strider feels smoother and faster. On the 6th I ran 13:50 for the 2 miles, then 13:37 on the 11th and 13:02 on the 18th with what felt like the same effort.

On the other end of the spectrum I got out to Shenandoah NP for four serious climbing/descending and trail running on the AT and other technical trails. I had great company in Sophie and Jeff Wilbur of charlottesville. I ran an 18 mile loop on 8/7 and 8/9 that has over 4,000ft of climb and on 8/15 and 8/17 I ran a tough 21 miler with over 5k of climb. All these runs took between 4:05 and 5:02 to run. For me this is the perfect length of time to be out on my feet pounding and still be able to recover well. In the summer with an early start I will go through 100 ounces of fluid and take in around 800 calories on such a run. This puts me on the verge of being hungry and helps increase my bodies fat mobilization abilities.

Today Anne and I headed to Ashland, VA for the Patrick Henry 1/2 marathon and managed to complete our goal by covering the distance on tired legs at goal marathon pace: 1:59

Fun stuff, highlighted by attending a pre-race talk given by Maureen Ackerly about the US Oly trails marathon in April. This amazing runner is a 39 y.o. mother of 2 who happens to be a partner in a big law firm. Talk about juggling life responsibilities and still manage to PR in the marathon! Amazing.