November 15-21

Tuesday:
1.5 mi @ 8:30
5x 1000m @ 6:12 (actual: 6:12, 6:10, 6:00, 6:02, 6:02)
1.5 mi @ 8:54
These were harder than I expected, but the weather was fantastic (60 degrees).

November 8-14

Monday:
3.11 mi @ 7:38, 90 spm

Tuesday: (got to the park late and had to change the plan)
4.07 mi @ 7:39, 90 spm

Wednesday:
.75 mi @ 7:43
12x 400m @ 5:44 w/ 400m active recovery
1 mi @ 8:20

Friday:
1 mi @ 8:05
4x 1 mi @ 6:26 (actual: 6:29, 6:29, 6:32, 6:29)
1 mi @ 8:30

Saturday:
15 mi @ 8:25, last mile at 7:14
Avg cadence: 92
(I was supposed to run the last mile at 6:45, but forgot.  Still, I had a pretty good run, particularly after a hard workout the day before)

November 1-7

Highest weekly mileage total of the year: 30.5 miles!

Monday:
2.7 miles @ 8:23

Tuesday
1.5 mile @ 8:20
10x 400m @ 5:44
1.5 mile @ 7:40

Thursday
1.5 mile @ 8:30
3x 1mile @ 6:26 (actual: 6:30, 6:28, 6:29)
1.25 mile @ 8:20

Friday
13 mile @ 8:29
Avg Cadence: 92 strides per minute

Week 1 of training with a plan

I took two weeks completely off after the Chicago Marathon (during which my plantar fasciitis completely blew up at mile 22), and started back running this week.  This time I'm actually training with a plan.  (as my buddy TK's guardian angel on the Atlanta MARTA told him: "a man without a plan just ain't a man")

Tuesday:

1 mile @ 8:20

8x 400m @ 5:44 w/ 400m active recovery

1 mile @ 8:20

(I missed the pace on two of the 400's by a couple of seconds)

Thursday:

1 mile @ 8:20
3x 1 mile @ 6:26 (actual: 6:27, 6:36, NONE)
1 mile @ 8:20
I punked out in the middle of my first mile and decided that a third mile wasn't possible.  Probably not the best time to evaluate, but I'll do better at sticking to the plan next time.

Saturday:
13 miles @ 8:43

BQ Bound

I resolved when I ran my first marathon (Houston, 2006) that I would qualify for Boston before I aged up and it got easier (qualifying time for M30-34 is 3:10, for M35-39 is 3:15). I've had lots of different goals and different races since 2006, but I now find myself 5 months away from turning 35 (and aging up), and still a pretty good ways away from being fast enough to qualify.

I know that this sounds desperate and completely out of character, but I've decided to follow a training plan. I don't have time to do the whole plan between now and the Houston Marathon '10, so I'm cutting out the first 7 weeks, and modifying it a bit to accommodate. We'll see how that goes. If I don't feel ready by Houston in January, my backup plan is to qualify at New Orleans in February '10.

Wish me luck!