TGIF!!! (sort of)

Quick update before my long weekend begins! Found this article detailing marathon training - they talk about little things to get over marathon plateaus. I was doubtful about whether the work I was putting in was working during this training cycle, but proved that it is all coming together following Sunday's run. The crazy thing about this is I've been running seriously for almost 3 years now, and quite honestly still don't have a clue as to what type of training benefits me the most, but maybe that is half the fun of it :) This article give some good tips to consider during training, and was very interesting to me seeing we are about to start our marathon training block soon!

Last night, went for an evening run with Crystal. Absolutely gorgeous outside, high 60's/low 70's, breezy and maybe slightly humid. Did an out and back on the trail, nothing too crazy. Started out slow, but started to struggle a bit in the mid miles. Made a remark to Crystal that I was trying to slow her down, but she gave me a pretty dirty look which meant we weren't slowing down. Picked up the pace on the last mile, and amazingly felt a lot better despite the uphill grade. Hit low 6 pace on the last half mile, felt like I was gliding. Total mileage: 5 miles - splits were (no watch, trying to remember what Crystal called out): 8:24, 8:05, 8:03, 7:48, 7:16.

Afterwards, hung out with Pat and Crystal on their patio and had a beer while enjoying the nice evening. Played another few riveting rounds of ping pong, then was night night for me. Had ambitious thoughts of running before work this morning, but completely failed due to my inability to sleep well last night (afternoon naps are evil). So did my scheduled fartlek after lunch at work - weather was hot outside (mid 80's), but a little breezy. Ran an out and back with warmup and cooldown, didn't feel particularly good and legs had that leadened feeling in then. Did 20 seconds hard, 1 minute off and executed the workout, albeit with great effort. Stretched out a bit, pretty tired - got in about 4 miles total.

Ball game tonight with Barrel, and looks like a glorious night :) Race day is Saturday morning, so getting pumped up for that. If legs are feeling better, might get in 2-3 easy tomorrow morning to shake out any cobwebs but otherwise will do some corework and heavy stretching plus foam roller session. But all the hard work is over, and ready to run a tactical, fast race this Saturday! Wish me luck!!!