Week 6

I like my step down weeks. Kind of a pity, because I only get one more till I hit my taper.

I call this week a win- I relaxed and my body felt lighter and springier, and I got to take two days completely off (!) with one day very easy day.

My intervals were exactly where I wanted them to be; easier than I thought they'd be, and great confidence builders. Though I felt like I had worked hard doing them, I wasn't being put through hell to get them done.

I'm learning to be content with my cadence. I used to beat myself up running through Pontiac in show wearing annoyingly heavy shoes. I've made peace with the idea that 170 steps per minute is harder work in those conditions than 190 on pavement wearing regular trainers.

Takes me a while to figure out the obvious, I guess. :)

I've pretty well firmed up the idea that I'll be shooting for sub 3:30 at Martian, with a race strategy of ~8:00 min pace for the first 20 and see what I have left for the final 10K. I'd love to run this race intelligently... or as near as I can approach it. My idea to hit 20 miles at 2:40 and then bust out a 45-47 minute 10K. it might happen, if things go well. Otherwise, I'll just go to have a good time.

I'm a third of the way through Daniels' program, and so far as I can tell, things are going about as well as can reasonably be expected. I do think the time I spent (am spending) working on form guided by the folks at Good Form Running has been amazingly helpful. So, kudos to them- it's helped my training a lot. So far. :)

Next week, 70 miles; and my interesting run will be 4X 10-12 minutes at T pace with a couple of minutes of rest between intervals. I'll probably rest Monday. Might possibly go up north for a snowshoe race on Saturday, though I'm not 100% sure I want to do that. I'll burn that bridge as I cross it...