The Two Pronged Attack

If I am to have a spring season, it is time to get moving.

From here on out, I'll start hitting the track (but nothing too fast - only 800s and up) and ensuring my long runs are, in fact, long.

My first race will be the Shamrock 5k in Baltimore on the afternoon of March 11. This comes 3 weeks before Cherry Blossom and it'll be a good indicator as to what time of shape I will be in for the ten miler on 4/1. No, it's not a long race, but I desperately need to attack my weakness and my weakness is speed. In the past this strategy has worked well for me - train for the 5k, but race 5k through 10miles. Shamrock is a fast course and a fast time will give me much needed confidence. I'll aim for 15:15 - far off my best there (14:48) - but based on where I am at now, that should be a lofty goal. Shamrock will sort of be like Iowa or New Hampshire - do well here and I'll do well at the end of the season. 

On Saturday I hit the track for the first time in forever. My first real workout will be next Wednesday, but I wanted to get out and do something on Saturday just to get the legs moving quickly again. I hopped in a 3 mile tempo with the intention of hopping out halfway through. All seemed fine. I ran a long cool down and called it a day.

On Sunday I met Sam and Karl for a long run up the Rock Creek Trail. The footpath was very busy with packs of runners toting fluid bottles and the like getting ready for the National Marathon. As we pressed pass one such pack a woman called out, "don't worry, they're probably only running 2 miles". Karl and I had to hold Sam back from strangling her. We turned back after getting past the Lake Frank entrance and then headed home. It was a 16+ mile day -  a touch more than I was hoping for, as my IT band was extremely tight by run's end, but all was good.

65 miles for the week - my highest in quite some time. I am taking a calculated risk running so much so soon (especially on the heels of that Africa trip where I ran a total of 23 miles over 3 weeks), but it's time to press it.