Training Summary: 3/31 - 4/6

Mon: AM – 4.5 miles; PM – 9 miles
Tue: AM – 4.5 miles; PM – 8 miles, including hill bursts
Wed: 3 miles
Thu: 0 – Day Off
Fri: 6 miles
Sat: 7 miles plus strides
Sun: 13 miles
Total: 55 miles

Thanks to crossing the line the week before, this week turned into an impromptu cutback week. I was feeling really good and making a lot of progress, but then I got greedy. In hindsight, I think running 87 miles in a week with four doubles, a couple good quality workouts, and a faster-than-usual long run was just more than my body was ready to handle. Furthermore, I came into the week tired, then to make matters worse was really busy at work. By Wednesday I was just exhausted, both physically and mentally. It was nothing I couldn’t have pushed through, but over time I’ve learned that discretion is the better part of valor, so rather than dig myself so deep into a hole that I might not get out, I recognized the signs and backed off accordingly. Hopefully doing so will allow me to get back on track this coming week.

Obviously there’s not a lot worth going into any detail over. Monday and Tuesday were pretty much standard two-a-days. Wednesday I started to warm up for a track workout, and that’s when I realized things were going in the wrong direction. I didn’t feel terrible or anything; I just knew I wasn’t ready to run hard. Furthermore, my left lower back started hurting about two miles in, and I took that as a sign to pull the plug. I really had no intention of taking Thursday off, but when the evening rolled around and it was time to run, I just didn’t feel like it. I was tired and lacking in motivation, signs that I needed a day completely off. By Friday I felt a good bit better, and I spent the last three days of the week easing my way back into a normal schedule.

So this week I hope to get back at it and resume making progress. I’m actually starting to get the itch to race sometime soon. I’m not race ready by any means, but I’m relatively fit and need to bust the rust sooner or later. I don’t have my eye on anything specific yet, but I’m looking. My distant goals are the VA USATF Track Championship in June then the USATF National Masters Championships in July.

Speaking of USATF Championships, I’ll conclude with a shout out to my Roanoke Valley Elite teammate and longtime friend, David Angell, for running a PR of 51:41 at the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler in Washington DC this past weekend. His time was good for 34th overall, and he won the 35-39 age group. His race was all the more impressive considering he spent a lot of time this past fall/winter injured and therefore didn’t have what you would consider an optimal build-up. It’s good to see him get back to the level he was pre-injury so quickly and he should have a good remainder of the spring ahead of him.