Over the Mountain...August 1-7: 120 Miles/Week

I feel like I just got over a huge mountain and am going downhill. Last week was my highest mileage week to date and it was fantastic...really I am handling this mileage very well. I am in the shape of my life. A good amount of self massage and stretching are essential at least one day/week. I am becoming wiser, stronger, and I have learned so much about my body and mind. The key to doing more distance is to make sure you get in your slower runs, so I have made sure to get in a few 7:30 pace runs...I even did 8:00 pace average for a run this week. For those of you who want to run more mileage, I advise you to make sure you don't run too fast all the time when raising it...your body needs the easy days. The Kenyans do this. Mileage has its limits among runners, yes, but you'd be surprised at how much you can raise the bar as long as you do it right. I am confident to say I know how to do it, and if any of you reading this have questions, do not hesitate to ask me. Not that I have mastered it or know everything about it either...there is always more for me to learn and I appreciate all of the advice from everyone who reads my blog.

I am 6 weeks out from the Philly RocknRoll Half Marathon, and 12 weeks out from the Marine Corps Marathon. I have gotten a closer perspective on my miles and workouts over the next several weeks, including how much mileage I should run before it becomes detrimental to my training. But first, here is this week's sum:

8/1: PM: 12.5 miles
8/2: AM: 13.5 miles, PM: 5.5 miles
8/3: AM: 15 miles, PM: 5 miles
8/4: AM: 12.5 miles, PM: 5 miles
8/5: AM: 11 miles
8/6: AM: 21 miles, 1st 10 miles: 70 min(7:00 pace), 2nd 10 miles: 60 min(6:00 pace), + 1 mile
8/7: AM: 19 miles SLOW(8:00 pace), stretching, massage

TOTAL: 120 miles

Saturday I drove out to Edward's Ferry to do a Duel Ferries Run. The Duel Ferries run starts from Edwards Ferry(mile post 31 on the C and O Canal) and goes 5 miles on the canal to Whites Ferry before looping back on a lonely gravel road called River Road for another 5 miles on a rolling hills course that looks a lot like Kansas. It loops back to Edwards Ferry, which is just over 10 miles. Repeat the loop again and you got Duel Ferries. I met with Lucinda who happily joined me for the first of my two 10 mile loops. We started at 7:30 pace and worked down to 6:20 pace. The 2nd loop I ran harder while she did an out and back. I got down to 5:38 pace during the middle of the second loop...which felt rather comfortable...this may be close to my marathon pace...but I brought it back up to 6:00 for the rest of the run. Wasn't quite yet ready to tackle race pace effort...especially during the highest week of mileage ever.

I will begin doing targeted race pace workouts this month, and hitting long intervals on the track or on the towpath. My schedule is a bit more refined now(this still may change a bit) and I think my highest mileage week will be about 130(again this may change...it may just stay at 120).....I probably don't see myself going any higher than 130 though. Outline below:

AUGUST:
8/8-8/14: 100-110 miles
8/15-8/21: 110-118 miles
8/22-8/28: 120-130 miles

SEPT:
8/29-9/4: 85 miles
9/5-9/11: 80 miles
9/12-9/18: 65-70 miles**1/2 MARATHON RACE WEEK**
9/19-9/25: 90-100 miles

OCT:
9/26-10/2: 100-110 miles
10/3-10/9: 120 miles
10/10-10/16: 80-90 miles
10/17-10/23: 70-80 miles
10/24-10/30: 65 miles**MARATHON RACE WEEK**