Week in Review

95 miles
3 doubles
22+ mile long run
7 nights in my own bed
4 AFDs

And BOOM goes the dynamite! This week I achieved my highest mileage since well before the Trials marathon with relatively few doubles. Admittedly, notching 37 of those miles over a two-day period may or may not be the most advisable course of action, but as of Sunday night I'm feeling only vaguely hungry and surprisingly no worse for the wear. In fact, my body feels strong in a way reminiscent of the final month leading up to the Trials, when I could do a hard long run on Saturday and an even longer run on Sunday without any ill effect.

On the flip side, my "workouts" this week were either lackluster or practically nonexistent. On some levels that makes me feel anxious. On another level, who cares?? I've got nothing on the immediate calendar but a few half-marathons and local races here or there, so if it's more fun to do two long easy-ish runs with Emily than try to grind out a hard tempo on my own, then the choice is obvious.

That said, after speaking with several of the other girls this weekend, I think I do have a tentative "goal race" on the calendar, the New Balance Boston Twilight 10k on May 19th. This will be my first serious track race in two full years, and I would be lying if I didn't admit that typing this already has me a little bit nervous. But this race is still comfortably far enough away on the calendar and I feel confident in my ability to capitalize on my current winter/spring marathon strength. If I can just stay healthy this spring and put together 4-6 weeks of 10k-specific sharpening work beginning in April, I just might have a shot at running a respectable time. Qualifying for the Trials is a long shot, but I do think that breaking 34 minutes (and ideally not getting lapped) is an attainable goal. There will be several other fast girls in the race with similar goals in mind, so it should be a good opportunity to run fast.

Unfortunately, I doubt that next week's training will do much in the way of furthering my fitness. I'll be in Atlanta from Tuesday night until Monday morning for our biggest event of the year, the Publix Georgia Marathon. Karhu and Craft will have a huge presence at the expo and the race itself, which means plenty of long hours and little opportunity for mileage. I'm mentally treating it as a down week in an effort to spin this as a positive thing, although there will be very little true "down" time to speak of. Another busy week ahead!