Sunday, February 8, 2009

Good solid week of training. Put in some good hard efforts and managed to get into the pool once. Finished with another quality long run yesterday. Started with 10 mile loop with the guys at ~8:00 pace stopped for a quick drink, bathroom break, and 1/2 a powerbar. Went out for another 8 mile loop and gradually upped the pace. Finished the last 2 1/2 miles at 6:40 pace and felt strong. The fatigue is not there at the end of the run and I'm very pleased about that so far. Of course the start of these runs is slower than I would normally do. After this next recovery week I'll attempt to do the entire long run at a slightly faster pace and still up the pace at the end. I'm looking forward to a down week with more rest. I'm glad that I was able to push this week as the fatigue was building. That contradicts what I said about not being tired at the end of the run but the fatigue between runs is what I felt. During the run it isn't like I can feel the accumulated the fatigue, yet.
In family news it looks like we're heading back to the Outer Banks in June. Our friends are going along with us and we have a house close to the dunes right on the beach. It is always nice to play with the boys on the dunes and at the beach. Running along the coast is nice as well. I may have to see if the XTERRA race in Richmond, VA is going to be on one of the weekends we're out there. It's a really tough course and I would like another crack at it. My first time there was not pretty at all. More on that later.