New Mileage Highs

I hit a new mileage high last week for both my long and my weekly total!  On Saturday I ran 14 miles, which is my longest run since I ran the 2009 Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.  My half marathon split for the 14-miler was 2:08:30, so it was a pretty slow pace.  In fact, my half marathon split in Seattle 3 years ago was 1:58:XX.  I guess I've got a ways to go in training for MCM 2012 because another 12 miles last Saturday would have killed me :-)  I certainly feel like I'm training more diligently this time around, and also covering more ground than before.

I'm going to start doing some concentrated speed work one day a week now.  I've been planning to for awhile, but because of colds and minor injuries I've kept putting it off.  From here on out I'll be running 6 miles on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and Tuesday will be my 'speed work' day.  Basically I just plan on shooting for a 6-mile PR every Tuesday.  Maybe you could call it a tempo run, or a race pace run.  I don't know.  I used to run full-tilt all of the time and one thing's for sure...I used to be a hell of a lot faster.

Sometimes I think all of the 'knowledge' I've gotten from other runners, running forums, blogs, etc. about endurance training has caused me to think about too much when it comes to running.  I used to run hard in the beginning, middle, and end of a run and it didn't matter if I was running 3 miles or 10 miles I was always on the verge of throwing up by the end and I literally never got injured.  Somehow I always finished, and it was always a fast time.  My fastest 5K was a 16:52, but I was almost always under 18:00 without any sort of training schedule or racing strategy.  I guess my strategy was to run hard.  I'd like to get back to those roots a bit.  Hopefully my Tuesday 'speed' day will help my pace a bit now that I'm actually getting back into decent running shape.

Last weeks running summary:

Monday:      Off
Tuesday:      6.01 miles; 53:20; avg. pace 8:53/mi
Wednesday: 6.00 miles; 56:35; avg. pace 9:26/mi
Thursday:     6.01 miles; 57:30; avg. pace 9:35/mi
Friday:         Off
Saturday:     14.00 miles; 2:22:44; avg. pace 10:11/mi
Sunday:        6.01 miles; 57:00; avg. pace 9:29/mi

Total Mileage: 38.03 miles
Total Time:      6:07:09
Avg. Pace:       9:39/mi

Happy Running!