Fast 16 Miles

I surprised myself on Sunday by running 16 miles in around 2 hours, or about a 7:30 per mile pace. The day started out muggy, with temperatures in the low 80s by the time I finished. In other words, it was a lot hotter than I am used to. But I felt surprisingly strong and had plenty of water with me.

After I finished, my legs actually felt fairly good and I was not as exhausted as I thought I would be. I drank a water bottle full of chocolate milk immediately after finishing and then walked about a mile to cool down. Later in the afternoon I felt a little stiff but still surprisingly good.

I am not sure why it felt so easy, but I feel that part of the reason was the difference in running course. I have been doing my 14 to 15 mile runs on rolling paths and trails; I ran my 16-miler on a flat biking trail.

After a day of rest on Monday, I feel ready for another week of running. I am also starting to feel more confident that my time goal for Chicago later this year is not totally unrealistic. Who knows, maybe I might even surprise myself.

Training Summary for Week of May 17th, 2010

I hit 60 miles this week without too much difficulty. The following is my training summary for the week:

• Monday: cross-training day with strength training.
• Tuesday: 10 miles at a brisk pace
• Wednesday: 8.4 easy miles
• Thursday: 12 miles at a brisk pace
• Friday: 6 easy miles and some strength training in the evening.
• Saturday: 8.4 miles at a moderate pace
• Sunday: 16 miles run at a faster than expected pace

Total weekly mileage: 60.8

Sixty Miles

This is the week I hit 60 miles. Why is that so important?

Because, that was my peak mileage that I ran before Chicago last year. And what a contrast this year has been to that year.

Last year around this time I was suffering from a knee injury that left me limping around, running or not. At that time, I had serious doubts that I would be able to recover and train for the Chicago Marathon in October. Not even rest was helping the injury. To make matters worse, I had been told back in April that my position at work had been eliminated – so kind of them to just eliminate my position and not fire me – oh, wait, they did.

So to keep my sanity and to at least enjoy the nice weather we had been having, I decided to go out and run really really slowly (i.e. Grandma Running). And it worked.

True, it hurt at first. I could barely go a quarter mile before I had to walk. But slowly, over time, I found the pain slowly subsiding and I was running more and more miles at an increasingly faster pace.

By August I was averaging around 50 miles a week and felt wonderful on most of my runs. At that time, my weekly running schedule consisted of two intermediate distance runs of around 9 to 12 miles run at roughly marathon pace, or with some faster sections; a long run on the weekends that peaked at 22 miles; and then several recovery runs of 5 to 8 miles run at whatever pace I felt like.

By the time October rolled around, I had peaked at 60 miles a week and was in my taper, which, if you are unfamiliar with the lingo or running, is a period of reduced running before a big race. I was feeling great and was confident that I would be able to run a marathon in under 3 hours 20 minutes. In fact, I ran it in 3 hours 13 minutes and felt great at the end.

So when I hit 60 miles this week I will have reached a milestone in my running. Instead of the injuries and doubts that faced me last year at this time, I will have reached the same level of conditioning I had reached before I ran the Chicago Marathon. Because of this, I feel my running has come a long way.

Yet I still have much work ahead of me. And I still have to run those sixty miles!