1st ever 60+ week: Week of 9/3 - 9/9

So I did it this week! After years of thinking that my body couldn't handle more than 60 miles in a week, I took the plunge. Explored a new frontier. I have been planning on averaging 60 mpw for 3 out of the 4 weeks of September, but I still wasn't sure how my body would react. Last week was pretty exhausting between doing the extra biking and driving back and forth between Boston and the Cape twice.

Here's a recap of the week:
Mon - 10 miles in 1:04:35 (6:27 pace) - Laborious Labor Day 10 miler - see below for report
2.2 mile cool down - keeping my wife company
Tue - AM: 20 min. pool run, exhausted
PM: 6.7 miles @ 8:17 - nice easy recovery run, legs feeling better
Wed - AM: 10.2 miles including 6x800m, 4x400m @ 5:53 pace - legs were dead
PM: 6.1 miles @ 9:30 - easy recovery run with wife, felt lightheaded at the end
Thu - AM: 30 min pool run, 30 min. core exercises
PM: bagged the afternoon run; way too tired
Fri - off!
Sat - 20.2 miles @ 7:41 - 9 miles easy, 9 miles @ MP (6:48), 2 miles easy - awesome run!
Sun - 5.8 miles @ 8:26 - easy recovery run, felt great

Total: 61.3 miles!

Coming on the heels of my 18 miler on Sunday, I really wasn't sure how I would handle the 10 mile race on Monday. I decided to do it on a whim mostly because I was trying to get my wife to get in her long run, as she will be joining me for the BAA Half Marathon in 4 weeks. Since it was so last minute, and since my legs were really fatigued, I didn't think this race really warranted a stand-alone race report. So, I'll keep it short. The race itself was small, 40+ entrants; entry fee was 10 canned goods to benefit the local food pantry. Awesome...low key race and a good cause to boot. My game plan was to go out at a reasonable tempo pace, re-evaluate at the halfway point, and save some energy for the ridiculous hill at mile 8 (check out the route!). Everything went according to plan and I had some company starting around mile 5. I let him take the lead going into the monster hill, pulled away midway up the hill, and extended my lead on the downhill. Overall, I felt great despite not having much pop in my legs. I was also surprised to find myself only 19 seconds off my PR effort at the Yankee Homecoming 10 miler. I hope this is a sign of good things to come.

The next two days were about slogging it out. The pool and recovery run on Tuesday helped. Wednesday was pretty rough with the AM intervals. I think I was running low on fuel by the afternoon, because I started feeling lightheaded during the evening recovery run with my wife. Given my physical state and the fact that when I included Sunday's 18 miler, I had put it in 50+ miles in the span of four days, the easy days on Thursday and Friday were a welcome respite. It was partly strategic, too, because I knew Saturday's run was going to be a tough test.

Saturday's run was a planned 20 mile fast finish run with my Boston Fit folks. We met at the Minuteman Bikeway. The plan was to run from Alewife to Bedford for 9 miles at an easy pace, then turn around and pick it up to marathon pace for another 9 miles, followed by a gentle 2 mile cool down. This was going to be a serious shaking out to see if a sub-6:50 pace is doable for the marathon. The easy run out felt great, and I was feeling pretty spry going into the marathon pace portion. The 1st 3 miles felt really smooth, but middle 3 miles got tougher as the temperature started to rise. However, I hit a mental switch around 7 miles, when it became apparent that I could hold the pace to the end. I think I could have held that pace for another 2-3 miles, but I was happy to shut it down for the cool down. Overall, the workout is a good indication that a sub-3 hour marathon is well within reach!

Highlight of the week: Despite two great workouts (10 mile race and 20 mile fast finish) and hitting 60 miles for the week, the highlight of my week was actually the warm-up run before the intervals on Wednesday. My friend coerced me out of bed for 6:30 AM, but I was rewarded with an incredibly serene morning. No cars.... and I even ran by a flock of wild turkeys ambling through the front yards of Brookline.

Game Plan for next week (9/10-16):
Mon - AM: 30 min pool run, core training
PM: 6-7 miles recovery
Tue - AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 10 miles including intervals
Wed - AM: 8-9 miles easy
PM: core training
Thu - 5 miles recovery
Fri - 16 miles (2 legs), Reach the Beach!
Sat - 8 miles (3rd leg), Reach the Beach
Sun - vacation, flying to Seoul
Total - 60 miles

Reach the Beach has finally arrived. I've been looking forward to this for the entire summer, and now that it's finally here, I have to say I'm getting a little nervous even though it's not really race. It's gotta be the spending 30+ hours with 6 other equally sweaty people! OK, gotta run!