This was my bounce-back week. There was a lot of slow running, but a lot of miles so I am quite pleased. I am very fortunate to stay away from injuries. I never like to use my larger frame as an excuse. I have even vowed since August never to enter a Clydesdale division again even though I weigh 210. But I will say this. I do believe that I am more durable then some, so when I do get a tweak like last week, it makes me realize just how lucky I am.
Speaking of Clydesdale running, one of the big reasons why I am no longer interested is because it was too easy to win it. There are some 190+ runners faster than me out there, but they are few and far between. When I first saw that there was a USA Clydesdale & Filly Federation, I was excited that I could compete at a national level, but then I realized that the group was sponsoring the Big Man Run (five miles, three hot dogs, three beers!) and beer miles. And that is definitely not a shot at them, and their founder is very much into charity work, but it isn't exactly a serious approach. Basically, I refuse to let my weight be an excuse. I've gone from 3:56:56 at 240 pounds to 2:56:39 at 215 pounds. I will keep getting faster and keep getting lighter. I don't care what anyone says, I believe that I can get close to and even obtain a spot in the 2016 Olympic Trials if I train smart and hard (yes, I realize how far-fetched this is, but I am delusional and often still accomplish my goals). Even at 6'4", I will need to be under 190 to do this, most likely. If I don't want to be a Clydesdale then, I shouldn't be one now. It's a long road ahead, and I am simply looking to be under 2:50 in Boston!
Monday: Very easy 7 miles on the Treadmill in Milford. The Achilles felt better, but it was still important to go easy this week. I took an hour. 7 miles.
Tuesday: Didn't get to run until quite late - about 10:15pm. I ran quite slow again because of being cautious and because of the snowy and icy sidewalks. It wasn't too bad, but enough to be careful. 7.4 miles.
Wednesday: I met Caitlyn in Worcester and we ran at the beginning of the snowstorm. It was hard to get going because of the conditions and we were definitely around 9 minutes a mile. Another very slow run, but again in this recovery period that's never a bad thing. Went back to Haverhill for the snow day. 5.8 miles.
Thursday: The storm had just ended when I met Matt at Brickett Hill. We did 12 loops around the complex for over 10 miles. There was still a lot of packed snow so we had to go pretty slow for this, but we got in a pretty long mid-week run in. 10.25 miles.
Friday: I met Caitlyn in Worcester and we ran on a lot of back roads. Afterward I did 8 strides of about 75 meters or so since I was doing the Fudgcicle this next day. 6.75 miles
Saturday: I treated this Fudgcicle 5K like it was an actual race in regards to my preparation. I woke up early, eat my food, hydrated, got there early, warmed up fully, and most importantly I ran my own race. I was a slave to the Garmin, but it was helpful. I wanted to run the first 2 miles in 12 minutes and I did it in 11:55. I let Jason and Dan V. go out and just kept it chill at the beginning. They were way ahead and I was in 6th and briefly 7th a half mile into the race. By the time I got to the turn onto Pleasant Street at 2.5, I was only 5 seconds behind them, but then they pulled away. I was trying hard on that last mile and ran an even 6:00 for it, so it's not like I fell off. I was pleased with my work. It's my best on that course. Hard to believe that I once won the race with a minute slower a couple years ago! Just depends on who shows up. 10 miles.
Sunday: I ran a long run from NECC with Matt and Caitlyn. After a couple easy miles, we started to cruise pretty well. We did the big loop into West Newbury and Groveland and even saw Dan V. on East Broadway in Haverhill going the other way. Caitlyn stopped at 12.5 - don't think she was gone that far in quite a while - and then Matt and I tacked on an extra mile and a half. Splits were 8:29, 8:13, 7:37, 7:29, 7:37, 7:33, 7:18, 7:28, 7:18, 7:21, 7:19, 7:15, 7:03, 6:59. 14 miles. Great week of recovery!
Week: 61.15
Month: 236.5
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