Conversational

I haven't posted since Sunday and it has only been two workouts but it feels like I have a lot to catch up on.

Monday night I went to the pool again. I broke the first 20 or so laps up into sets of 2 and was struggling a bit. I couldn't seem to get into a groove, a problem I had my last time at the pool too. I figured I must be doing something wrong because I really shouldn't be going backwards two trips in a row.

The pool then got busy and for whatever reason this allowed my mind to wander a bit and I wasn't forcing things. I had to share a lane and it made me turn around the laps more quickly, suddenly I was just cruising along. I swam the last 20 laps with barely a break and felt good. Then hopped in the hot tub and stretched things out while I was in there. You really can't feel looser than stretching out in a hot tub after a decent swim.

I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat and after a couple of days denying that I was getting sick I had to face facts. It still hasn't turned into anything major and luckily it didn't really effect my run either.

I wasn't planning on going fast as on the past few Tuesday's but I started out with Ian, my legs felt good, the conversation was comfortable and before I knew it we were way out in front at about 6:45 pace for the first mile. Things just slowly increased in pace from there. A very subtle increase that got us to about 6:20 pace by the last mile.

The thing I was most excited about were the miles in between. At 6:25-6:35 pace, I was holding a conversation. It is definitely the most comfortable I have felt at those paces and I feel like it is a definite improvement. As I mentioned to Ian over the last couple miles, the run led me to believe that I should able to hold 6:25 pace for a half-marathon. That would put me at a 1:24 for the half and leave me sitting pretty for sub 3:00 at Boston. We'll see how things go.

After finishing up I ran the 5 miles home. I felt great, it started to snow and I was getting excited again about training again. My goal is 65 miles this week which would tie my high. I had been looking at that mileage with dread but I am starting to look at it as more of a challenge and a chance to push my body to where it hasn't gone before.

One last thing to an already long post. I was thinking back to Chicago, and for that matter Philly 2005 marathon training on my run home. During those training runs I must have pictured crossing the finish line with a qualifying time, 100's of times. Picturing the feeling of joy, when I crossed, the satisfaction and enjoyment of completing a goal. I need to conjure up a new mental image of 2:5X on the clock for Boston.