One Month To Go

With the end of this week, it's just 4 weeks from today until I hit the streets of Austin.  This past week was generally pretty good.

Started off with a really good 14-Miler in Thompson Falls on Sunday.  Included a couple of mile out and back section up the Thompson River Road.  It's always a pleasant segment of the run with the Thompson River running right alongside the road.  Finished with a few miles between 7:15 and 7:20 without forcing it or pushing at all - so, was really quite happy with how the run went.

Wednesday saw a strength interval workout on the treadmill.  Went onto the treadmill so that I could make sure that I ran the desired times; and, to try out my new Brooks Pure Connects (which is what I intend to use to race in at the 3M Austin Half Marathon).  The interval session went just as planned - 3 X 1.5 miles with 800 rest at 9:49, 9:45 and 9:39 (6:27 to 6:35 pace - right at my goal).

The rest of the week was pretty much just getting in miles.  This will be my biggest mileage week of my build-up - topping out at 56 miles.  [Which is quite a bit less than I would traditionally do.  But, have found with my cardiac issues that I tend to get overly fatigued and flat if I do too much in the way of weeks over 50 miles.  So, have been trying to find a balance of enough miles to have the endurance to cover the half at sub-1:29.  And, at the same time, stay fresh enough to allow me to hit some good quality work that will make 6:45 pace seem comfortable.]

Did have the opportunity to get in a couple of runs in Missoula with some of the Run Wild Missoula crew.  Was in town Tuesday for the Scott Jurek talk and group run (more on that in another post) and Thursday for some business.  In those runs was able to run with Anders Brooker, Em Kendrick, Pat Cross and Tim Brooker.  Always a pleasure to get to town and run with some other folks.  (Sometimes it gets a bit lonely out here in little ol' Plains.)

Finished off the week with a nice, leisurely run up Weeksville Creek Road.  Nice to get out and away from the highway and enjoy the quite "sounds" of nature.  Always calming to stop for a minute at the creek crossing about 1.5 miles up the route and enjoy the sights and sounds of the little stream.

A bit fatigued by the end of the week.  A bit of travel, a heavy work load at the office, biggest mileage in probably at least a year, and a couple of high quality workouts.  Guess with that I should probably expect to be a bit worn down.  The ultimate test will be to see how well I come back this coming week (with a bit of a drop in mileage; but, a couple of hard workouts on tap).  Regardless, it's all a pleasant part of the training adventure.

See you on the roads, tracks and trails.

The Muddy Buzzard