The Blog is BACK!!!

Life and other miscellaneous annoyances have caused me to fall out of touch with my beloved blog. I am going to attempt to get back into the habit of posting.

Where to start?

I have started working with a running coach at the Boston Running Center. The biggest change in my running so far is the fact that now I run 5 times a week, no cross-training, no treadmills. I have to say that running outside in the winter in Boston is one of the most character building activities a person can engage in. I can't wait for the temperature to crack 50 degrees and stop raining.

I logged 26 miles last week, and I'm on pace to log another 25-28 this week. I've NEVER run this many miles outside of a marathon training program, so I'm a little worried about burning out my legs, but my coach seems to think they'll adapt. Eventually he wants me to get up to 6 days of running a week, and probably 40-45 miles a week in total.

Why the massive increase in mileage? Weeelllll...

My long-term goal is to run a 3:10 marathon and qualify for Boston. Just how "long-term" this goal is hasn't really become apparent yet. I'm guessing that, at the bare minimum, it will take me 2 full years of hard training from this point on to get that fast. I could see it taking as much as 5 years, though I hope it doesn't.

In order to hit that goal, I need to train specifically for it. My running program that I'm developing with the coach is one that is geared towards one marathon a year in the winter. I will be running many 5K's, 10K's, and a couple of half-marathons throughout the year to push myself and gauge how I'm progressing, but the ultimate goal of each year-long training cycle is to run a marathon in the winter.

From what I've read and heard about from other runners, you need to have a pretty substantial base mileage to get your body in good enough shape to maintain that pace for that long. It doesn't help that I'm 5'6" and stocky either. It seems that most people who can run a 3:10 have a weekly mileage in the 40-50 miles per week range. That seems pretty absurd to me, as the most I've EVER run in one week was 35 miles, which was during a week which had a 20 mile long run. I'd need to average 8-10 miles per run to get that kind of mileage in one week.

So that's that. I've also started doing running drills, which are strange. I've done buttkicks, heelkicks, and striders so far. I'll get into that stuff in my next post. In the meantime, I hope everyone is well, and I promise it won't be a month before my next post.