Training Dec. 14-20

12/14- 6 miles easy in 47:37. Sore warming up but once I got going, I could run a 7:45 pace with no effort. I actually forced myself to back off and ran the last 3 miles slightly over 8:00. Including the warmup, I covered the full 26.2 distance over the weekend.
Grade: A/1 credit/distance= 6.25
12/15- 7 miles in 58:16, steady 8:20 pace. In fact, miles 3-5 were all 8:21. Felt nearly effortless and felt good the next day. If I want to run 50 MPW, I'll have to run my easy days at 8:20 instead of 8:00. Probably worth it to slow down.
Grade:A-/1 credit/distance=7.25
12/16- 3 mile tempo run in 21:24 (7:01-7:14-7:09) plus a 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown. This breaks a string of 7 consecutive above average workouts. I'm not too worried about it though. I wasn't horrible as it is and I've done 38.5 miles in 4 days so I don't think it's anything more serious than natural fatigue from increased training. Probably a rest tomorrow then I have 2 days to run the 11.5 needed to hit 50.
Grade:C+/2 credit/distance=5.0
12/18- easy 10 miles in 82:55. Felt good about my pace and the effort but not pleased about the soreness in my foot. Pace was pretty even (no worse than 8:24, no faster than 8:08). This clearly demonstrates that if I want to run 50 MPW, a slowdown in pace is required, maybe to 8:30.
Grade:B+/2 credits/distance=10.5
12/19- Untimed 3 mile recovery jog at a glacial pace. Felt pretty good despite some soreness.
The 52 miles from Saturday to Friday is a new personal high for any 7 day period.
Grade: Pass/0 credit/distance=3.0
12/20- Interesting workout. My body is feeling really weird. I needed extra sleep and had a vivid dream (rare for me) Plantar fasciitis has flared up a bit but I'm not too worried about it. I wasn't planning on doing much until New Years anyway. I wasn't expecting much when I finally dragged myself out there then I couldn't slow down from a fast early pace and ended up dividing my workout. 4 miles in 29:50. 10 minute rest to get some Gatorade followed by a pretty solid 3 mile tempo run in 20:34 (6:46-6:54-6:54) then a long cooldown
Grade:A-/2 credits/distance=8.0
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Week summary:Quality week of workouts, no major thyroid/adrenal flare ups but based on my body's response to the training, I cannot maintain this mix of intensity and mileage. One of the 2 must be cut and since my goal race is a marathon, it is the intensity that will be cut. 26.2 time trial on 1/1/09 and the taper starts now.
Distance= 40.0, Weekly GPA: 26.3/8=3.278
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