Taking inventory and setting sights...

Another productive week on the roads and it feels pretty good. Aside from some slight fatigue a few mornings and mild tenderness in my left inner shin, I feel like I'm making some progress. My heart rate monitor was fixed and functioning briefly but no longer fits thanks to a worn out elastic band(am I losing a bit of baby fat?). I checked my pulse manually at the end of a few runs and felt comfortable with the readings in this phase of training, but I would have liked to have my info from the 5k I ran yesterday. The chest strap of my Polar HR monitor slid down to my waist & I ended up finishing with the damn thing in my hand. My goal was to hit 45+ miles this week without going over 80minutes for a single run. Just keeping within what I think are conservative limits while setting up for everyday training for the months ahead. Here's the shakedown:

9/8 6 miles (41:57) HR 130
9/9 10.5 miles(1:13:46)
9/10 5 miles (36:37)
9/11 8-ish miles (59:29), Rain felt great
9/12 am 5 miles (35:49) HR 136
pm 4 miles (28:46) HR avg 127
9/13 2 mi w/u 5k race (17:23) 3 mi c/d for a total of 8 miles
9/14 5 miles (35:58)

Total ~51 miles in 8 sessions

The 5k was put on by the local YMCA and was around a familiar 2 mile loop of Golden Lake where we used to do VO2 max workouts in HS. The road was torn up and a bit muddy from the overnight rain showers so the course was a bit soft. I had to dodge a frickin cement truck about a half mile in but still managed 5:34 for the first mile. I settled in at this pace and went through the 2 mile in 11:12 (5:38). The last 1.1 miles were an out and back loop on a gravel trail that unfortunately had parents and kids taking part in the 'family fun run mile' which isn't the full cause of my slowing in the last mile but definitely played a role. Overall, I wanted to see if I could hold a comfortable tempo around 5:40 pace without building up lactic acid. Mission accomplished.

More good news came this week too. Thanks to my good buddy P-a-t-r-ick, I successfully got accepted into the elite field at TC 10 mile in 3 weeks. I'll be treating that as a similar tempo-type measure of fitness with little preparation besides maybe a couple runs between 12-14 miles in the weeks ahead. At most I may throw in a few cruise intervals. I'm looking at TC10 as a control test. I know I'll feel like running faster in that situation, but it would be foolish to do so because it wouldn't really benefit me to race myself into fatigue or injury before ramping up mileage this winter.

Setting my sights right now on Fargo Marathon as the most likely spring 'thon to focus my efforts on. My half there in 2006 (1:14:36) lead me to like the mix of great competition and a potentially fast course for me if I run with brains and keep fit. After TC10, I'll be out of racing until perhaps another fitness test in January (winter carnival half marathon?) from which I'd base more precise marathon goals. Today, I'd throw out a goal of 2:35 on a moderate course in favorable conditions. This matches up more closely with where my fitness was this past June when I went 1:13:59 at Kona half.


I had a goal of 2:40 in my mind for my first marathon, Twin Cities 2005, but didn't use my head and went out much faster than planned. I paid the price around 21 miles, just as the course bears its teeth down Summit ave. I was on pace for a 2:35-ish finish, but blew up and limped across the line in 2:46:01. Though I was pleased I beat the time of 48 year old woman J-B-Samuelson I was frustrated that my race plan was never in writing. That was a mistake that I almost couldn't recover from; it took a solid 4-5 months before I felt strong on a run again. Now my hindsight is 20/20 and I don't wanna go back there. This blog is a tool I may need as a crutch at times to keep up training to safely reach my goals. Hopefully I'll get some helpful feedback as well...