"ROUGH" WEEK

Last week ended up being extremely “rough”. Of course, Monday was Memorial Day so I had the day off from work. Wednesday morning was Track & Field Day for Katie, so I took the morning off to attend that. And Friday I got to chaperone Kinsey to the Minnesota Zoo. Since the school is only like 2 miles from the zoo, all the fifth graders got to ride their bikes there and back.


I guess summer has officially begun. Looking at my calendar, out the 15 weeks or so of summer, I think I have 8 weeks where I’ll have to work 5 whole days. Otherwise, I’ll be out of the office at least part of the week – including an exciting vacation that I’ll announce tomorrow!

Today also marks the 18-week point from TCM. I’ve decided on following Pfitz’s 18-week plan that tops out at 70 MPW. I’ve had success with this in the past and look forward to having some structure to my training. Overall, there are some spots where it’s going to be tough to get in the training – especially with all the vacations I have planned this summer. For example, in just two weeks, I have a 16 miler with 8 at marathon pace planned. Well that’s the same day as Grandma’s Marathon, which I plan on watching. It’s not impossible to get it in, but it’s definitely more difficult than a typical Saturday run from home. Then there are a couple of 16 to 18 milers on the schedule when I’ll be with the family. Finally, I’ve been recruited for a Ragnar team, which will consists of 3 hard runs in the span of a day or so. Apparently, Pfitz never considered this when he put his schedules together. So, although I have my marathon scheduled laid out, I’m sure I’ll be making adjustments all throughout the summer.

One of the nice things about Pfitz’s program is that it’s not really much different from what I’ve been doing lately. He starts out at about 55-60 MPW with Wednesday runs of 11-13 and long runs of 15-16. And his workouts consist of 4-5 mile tempo runs. It looks like that 16 miler with 8 at MP will be the only run that’s really “new” to me during the first three weeks.

The good news is that I feel pretty good heading into the program. I finished May with 205 miles, which is a little low, mainly due to my calf “injury”. But I’d rather start my marathon training feeling good than have squeezed in 30 more miles the last week or two while still battling some aches and pains – which I’m sure more of are right around the corner.

Quote of the Day;

“Not since Bob Kennedy have we seen an American-born male distance runner run in a pack believing they could compete and run with anyone.” – Letsrun.com recap of Galen Rupp’s 12:58 5K performance at the Prefontaine Classic