Plugging away

I finished a 39 mile week on Friday with a chilly eight mile run and thoroughly enjoyed a day off yesterday. Today I was back at it. I drove down to Lady Bird Lake at 6:30 this morning and ran the 10 mile loop with an extra mile added by repeating the half mile Riverside hill (for anyone familiar with Austin's Lady Bird Lake). The first time up the hill is a lot easier than the repeat trip, but I'm hoping those repeats will pay off in Boston. It was a little warm but with a nice breeze, today's run was pretty good. The daily runs this week are scheduled for just 3, 3, 3, 4 and 7 miles respectively in preparation for next Sunday's scheduled 16-miler.

Five miles? It must be Thursday.

With 10 1/2 weeks of my 19 week training program in the rear view mirror but with 8 1/2 more weeks to go (and more than half of the total mileage) it is easy to start to wonder if race day will ever get here. However I'm in a regular routine now - get up at 5:45 a.m., check the weather, dress accordingly and hit the streets. It is helpful that each day's mileage and pace varies.

The Sunday long runs are naturally harder than the shorter mid-week runs, but actually, the runs I look forward to the least are the ones on Friday, especially the next four which are eight, seven, seven and eight miles, respectively. The fact that Friday marks the sixth consecutive day of running before my one off-day per week means that I'm generally tired early Friday mornings. In addition, runs of that length don't leave me with a lot of time to relax before rushing off to work.

It is all part of the process of making it to the starting line in Hopkinton ... one step at a time.

Meat of the program

I'm now moving into the meat of my training program. All weekend "long runs" from here until the week before the race are double digit mileage. I'm scheduled for 14 miles this Sunday. The scheduled mid-week runs are generally longer as well. My weekly mileage goes up to as much as 42 starting three weeks from now.

I'm sure 42 miles of running in a week sounds like a lot to most people. Frankly, it sounds like a lot to me too. But for world-class marathoners, 42 miles is barely two days worth of training. Most Olympic-caliber marathoners will run anywhere from 120 to 150 miles per week. I'm pretty sure my legs and body would not stand up to that kind of pounding, but then again, if a guy like me could train like a world-class athlete, the world-class athletes would be training that much more. That's why they're world-class athletes.

The AT&T marathon and half-marathon will be held this coming Sunday here in Austin. I would have probably signed up for the half-marathon had I gotten around to it before the entrant cap was reached. One of my co-workers is going to run it. The weather looks like it should be pretty good. I hope it is. If so, the weather will be good for my 14 miler too.

Capital of Texas Nebraskans

Thanks to president Gary Gibreal for distributing my fund raising flyer to the members of the Capital of Texas Nebraskans, the Austin-area chapter of the University of Nebraska Alumni Association. Hopefully my fellow Cornhuskers will support my run and the Melanoma Foundation with sponsorships.

Hot and cold

Three days of unseasonable warm weather turned "seasonal" this morning. I completed a sluggish seven mile run last Sunday followed by three miles on Monday and six on Tuesday in nearly 70 degree temperatures. Quite a departure from the cold (by Texas standards) that I had gotten used to. However, it was back in the 30s this morning. Cold is better as long as it isn't accompanied by strong winds. Cold and wind is not fun.