Ideally there has to be a goal, some sort of endgame. Asthat goes my plan had always been to run a bunch of marathons and if I was ready for it, the ultra marathon national championships in Boalsburg, Pa. at the end of the October.
Hey, when the speed is gone, the endurance prevails.
Regardless, I’m not interested in running marathons if I’m not fit. Yeah, I can probably go out tomorrow and hammer out 26.2 miles. It would be slow and I might be out of commission for a couple of days after it, but what would be the point? The idea this time around is to be fit enough to bounce back quickly and jump into the next run or race.
And so we get to the base building, that steady accumulation of miles and miles of running every day. Because I’ve been off for so long, racking up the miles is tedious. Likewise, the changes to the body as well as results from the workouts come oh so slowly.
But maybe that’s the fun part. There is absolutely no stress on putting in the work. There are no workouts to hit just perfectly and no races looming. It’s just the miles and nothing more.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself…
Anyway, the first week of the new year is in the bag and it went rather solidly. I wouldn’t say strong, but instead it was solidly solid. It was pretty decent and almost good.
Here’s how it went:
January 1
11 miles
Ran to the Susquehanna River. I was sluggish in the beginning but felt good after getting loose. This is a tough run … not a whole lot of flat stretches.
Might not be able to tell from the picture, but just look at these hills:
January 2
10 miles
Easy does it. Got out later than I would have liked and ended up running most of it in the dark. For some reason I don’t run very fast in the dark. Even when I feel like I’m moving, my watch always shows a slower pace.
Oh well.
January 3
10 miles
Ran after some hills. Felt good and did some work.
January 4
10 miles
Same exact run as the day before. Hills might make you go slow but they clean up the form.
January 5
13.25 miles
Ran all over the place. Weaved around the neighborhood, hit some rails-trails park, dipped into the city for a stretch and added a hill or three for fun. By far the best run of the week.
January 6
6.25 miles
Woke up with my quads feeling like crap. Took some extra coaxing to get my quads and hamstrings ready to move. They hurt, man! Must be the hills. Thankfully I only scheduled an easy one for today.
61 miles for the week. Solid.