Marathon Training Begins.

Corporate Challenge 8k

Last Thursday was the Corporate Challenge 8k race in Louisville.  The race was held at 6:00 p.m. and for those that haven't been to Colorado, the hottest part of the day is between 5:00-6:00 in the evening.  The high for the day was 92, which had me extremely worried after my disaster at Freihofer's.  In addition, the physicians at work insisted we have BBQ for lunch that day.  Overall, the race was a decent effort.  Did I absolutely kill myself?  No.  It was a loop (a square) course, 1.65 miles x 3.  A slight downhill, followed by flat, followed by a gradual uphill, followed by flat again.  I really didn't push too hard on the gradual climb and lost all my time there (I need to work on hills), but running fairly comfortable (understatement in the heat I suppose) I finished third in 30:43.  My teammate, Abby, finished first in a blazing time of 28:45, and our team won the women's division.

This week the heat hasn't let up at all and has actually gotten worse!  Saturday I ran 12 miles with Ellie and Leigh Ann (averaged 7:15's) and felt good.  This upcoming Saturday I will move up to 14 miles.  I decided to not run the Bristol Mile this Saturday evening so I could do a long run.  I had a quick speed workout Tuesday morning, then yesterday Abby, Ellie, Leigh Ann and I ran in 97 degrees, closing our last 3 miles in 6:57, 6:43, and 6:47.  Today I ran an easy, yet decent progression run in 99 degrees.  It actually does not feel that bad at all compared to 97 or 99 degrees in NY.  I will be just over 50 miles by the end of the week, which isn't too bad going into my first week of actual marathon training.  The plan for this training cycle is to boost my mileage.  My weekly high for the last marathon was 67 miles, which is a typical max for me during marathon training.  I look forward to increasing the miles for this marathon and hope it helps!  I'm feeling pretty good, my foot was a slight issue after being in NY.  The combination of racing two 5k' in a week, along with 2 workouts on the track and walking around NYC in dress shoes for several days took it's toll.  I've been in sneakers since I came back (most of the time), alternating between asphalt and dirt and icing again.  It seems to be helping, so I am sticking to it!  Next Thursday is the Firekracker 5k in Ft. Collins, we will see what a 5k at altitude is like compared to my last one almost a month ago at sea level!