On the treadmill...

on Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 10:03 PM

10 days since my last post. Whoops. So I recovered from the cold and I've cut back on the mileage and squeezed in a bunch of shorter runs. Basically, since my last post, the runs have went like this:

Feb 2: 5 mile recovery
Feb 3: 14 mile long run
Feb 5: 5 mile recovery
Feb 6: 4.5 mile GA with 2@ LT pace
Feb 7: 6 mile GA with 4@ LT pace
Feb 9: 5 mile recovery
Feb 10: 20 mile long.

So today I did something I've never done before. A 20 mile long run on the treadmill. Longest previous treadmill run was 16 miles. Wasn't quite as boring as I thought it would be. Had to take the treadmill route cause it was windy as heck today and really cold outside. I'm in no mood to try and tackle the weather outside. It was also quite mild on Saturday and all the snow and crap turned to slush which just refroze this morning the sidewalks nice skating rinks. It's been a tough winter so far. Apparently, we've received as much snow this winter as we've received in the past two winters COMBINED and winter is not even over yet and there supposed to be another 10 cm coming on Tuesday.

So you might be wondering why I did a 20 mile long run today. Well I'm rethinking my decision not to do the NAPA marathon on March 2. I don't think I can BQ, but I think I might be able to PR. I was PO last year with not being able to PR and if I can PR now it would leave me a few months to build up to a solid base prior to attempting another marathon cycle for the fall. I'd like to try and get to a base of about 50-55 mile prior to starting marathon training, which would allow me to hit 70 miles/week or so for peak mileage. Since 55 miles in the past would have been my peak mileage, I think I'm going to need a couple of months to get the body use to it.

5 comments:

Sonia said...

20 miles on a treadmill??? Now, that is crazy!

Awesome news about the marathon! And you're registered anyway so if you can hop on a plane and get your PR you won't lose all your money.

Good luck!

Triseverance said...

20 miles on the treadmill deserves one of those "I am not worthy bows" nice job.
Good luck with the NAPA, I think you are on track with the base building thoughts.

Take Care

yumke said...

Oh My! How long did your 20 miler take? That's crazy. Although today and yesterday I seriously considered trying a treadmill. When will this end?

Wow, 70+ miles is going to be interesting.

Arcane said...

Yumke: 20 miles in about 2:50. 8:30 pace average with stopping twice to refill the water bottle.

Ryan said...

Wow... 20 on a tread - that takes outstanding mental discipline. Great job. My PR is only 12, which I set last week!

If you can do that, you need to go for that marathon. I applaud your decision to give it a shot.

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