January 8 - 19

The last week and a half has been the highest volume of my life, including last week, which topped out at just under 130 miles. Only once before had I made it to 120, and that was a fluke-y spike in my summer of 2012( - I was alone for the week while Heather and the kids were in NJ, so I just kept adding runs to see if I could run 120. The next week I was hurting and had to take the first two days off just to allow my body to heal and recover).

This past week was a little different.
I got out twice on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Friday and just felt like I could keep piling the mileage on. 25 miles on Thursday was a little rough, but otherwise, I feel like I could keep training at this level (or maybe slightly less) and survive a few more weeks. Maybe it's because I finally decided to read Born to Run.

Details:

Thursday, January 8
13.05 in 1:30:48; first 9k with Nate H., then 12k on my own (watch still on k's from workout Wednesday)

Friday, January 9
14.09 in 1:35:31 out and back from Gordon

Saturday, January 10
15.54 in 1:37:47 - morning progression run from home

Week Total: 94.51 miles

Sunday, January 11
just under 6 miles at 7 am before taking the Gordon T & F team to Dartmouth Relays;
8.72 in a little over an hour during a break in the action at Dartmouth

Monday, January 12
15.26 in 1:48:08 at lunchtime;
6.34 real easy at first distance practice of the new year

Tuesday, January 13
7.89 in 54:39 with Nate H. at lunch;
8.37 in 1:01:13 at practice (roads/sidewalk around track)

Wednesday, January 14
once again, I consulted Nate Jenkins' blog and ended up giving the Portuguese surge a shot for 4k
first 2k @ 3:38-3:40/k; then "all-out" in 3:14/3:04; not quite as fast as I'd hoped for the fast k's, but the slower ones felt pretty controlled so that was good. Turned around after the k's
total: 14.23 in 1:35:05

Thursday, January 15
plan was 20k out, 20k back at around 4:00 per km; was fine for about 16k, then got all turned around in danvers, running on icy sidewalks in the downtown area amid detours, ended up slowing significantly, seriously considering stopping into one of the delicious-smelling sub shops and calling Heather for a ride, but stuck it out and came around at the end. Even ended up adding on a little to get 25 miles. (25.22 in 2:50:14) right around freezing and rain/ice mix: Native glasses and the whole front of my shirt iced over.

Friday, January 16
15 in 1:43:44 at lunch;
5+ at practice easy, plus 6 x 110m strides on the turf with the team

Saturday, January 17
16.84 in 1:55:56 on the roads from home, joined by Al V. for about 6 miles in the middle; he is just about ready to join CMS

Week Total: 129.3 (lifetime high so far)

Sunday, January 18
just trying to keep good miles over the long weekend, and the warmer weather was nice.
16.25 in 1:40:56 (6:12/mi.); gentle progression - 5k splits: 19:50/19:40/19:18/19:04/18:49 and 4:15 for last 1.15 km

Monday, January 19
taste of spring, alternately chilly and toasty with some stronger sunshine, temps in the low 40's but cloudy, windy stretches. Felt ok picking it up a little on the second half. Ran into Hamilton-Wenham coach Steve Sawyer and stopped to talk for about 12 minutes on the way out.
(13.99 in 1:30:11 - 6:26 per mile)

I still have my watch set to km's, and it's been nice to "hear the beep" a little sooner on some chilly days the past two weeks. Still no snow to speak of, which has made the roads friendlier, but I realize we're not even out of January yet.

The plan is still to prep for Caumsett, keep the mileage high and try to get one quality session in per week, with room to go hard 1-2 other days if the opportunity (aka legs) is there.

Another great takeaway from Nate J. on strides that I shared with my team on Friday. I swear, I am going to have to start paying this guy royalties.