Seven weeks out

Little less than 7 weeks to go until the marathon. Training went well this week despite the snow. Who would have thought we'd have snow stay on the ground for a week in Middle Tennessee. Can't really complain, it has been a little cold this year, but haven't really had the cold rain runs. What really blew my mind was how much snow was still on the road in Percy Warner Park. The fast master and I went back out there to double the 11.2 on Sunday. Ended up just going one loop, plus the Luke Lea overlook because it was to slippery. Lots of black ice, and sections of road which were still completely snow packed. We still got our 20 miles, but had to add on Page road and Belle Meade Boulevard.

Got lulled into doing a marathon pace effort on Friday by BQ1 and his brother on Friday. They were doing a AT run and I didn't have a workout scheduled. (In hindsight, it was a down week in preparation for a big week coming up) Started out at their pace and it just wasn't clicking for me. So, I picked it up just a tad and tried to get into marathon pace. Ended up running about 6 or 7 miles worth and it felt really good.

Wednesday had to do my Yasso 800 workout on the road, because of the snow on the track. That was definitely tough. Not so much because of the rolling hills, but the inability to see where I was pace wise. At least on the track, you have instant feedback. My splits came in pretty close to the target, so it wasn't a complete bust. Plus, it's always a little tough to do that workout solo. Last cycle BQ1 pulled me through on some of the repeats. Sure makes it easier to chase or be chased, versus the solo effort.

The week ahead calls for a tempo run on Wednesday, 20 x a minute on/off on Friday and then a fast finish long run on Sunday. I'll probably be at about the maximum mileage for this training cycle, high 70, perhaps even 80. (not counting the 100 mile week with the 50k) That may really end up to be more of a setback, just because of the amount of time it took to fully recover from the effort.