Training week 2/14 - 2/20

Got in another good week of training.  I was a bit tired from the Holiday Lake 50k race, but I was ready to get at it considering am going to be tapering again soon for the B&A marathon on 3/6.  Monday and Friday consisted of my normal 60 minutes on the Stair Master, while Tuesday and Thursday were my normal 45 minute weight lifting and 60 minute spin class (this week was extra tough, thanks Pam!).  Wednesday I was able to get in my best interval workout so far this year.  I was able to do 1 mile x 4 at sub 8:00 (8, 7:59, 7:50, 7:51) minute for each repeat.  I haven't been able to run like that since I was ran in college.  I am hoping that alternating between interval and tempo runs will help out with my speed in ultras.  Saturday I got in a nice long run of 21 miles at Susquehanna State Park.  It was a bit windy out there but with all the warm weather we have been experiencing all the snow had melted off the trails and the wind helped dry them out.  I did 2 laps on the HAT 11 mile training loop.  I ran the first lap in 1:50 and ran the second lap in 1:48 minutes.  The second lap I could really feel my legs start to give way on the second lap.  Luckily I had a running partner (thanks Saul) to help me out on the second loop cuz the wheels were starting to come off the wagon about 16 miles into the run.  I guess beers and wings don't really make for a good carbs the night before a long run.  Oh well I guess I will have to try this again just to make sure :)  It was a good run and hopefully will serve me well in the future.  Sunday I got a easy 4 miles in as my legs were still sore and tired.  I had a total of 10.5 hours of training for the week which is my highest so far.  This will be a good baseline as I start to ramp things up in the coming months.

I haven't started my double weekend long runs because I want to make sure that I will peak (no pun intended) at the right time during the season.  This weekend I have a 10 mile race in which I plan to run hard but the marathon I will just go easy and use it as a training run for the HAT run.  This upcoming week I will keep my runs short and try to stretch as much as possible.  Here's to another good week ahead.

See ya on the trails,
JP