Week 5

Another week of training done and now I am 1/3 of through my 15 weeks of training. It was a good week all around with a decent tempo run on Tuesday night and some marathon pace running on Friday afternoon.

Saturday was a cold morning and I threw on an extra layer to keep me warm. I ran about 4 miles prior to the group run and then joined Ben, Craig and Kevin G for a familiar route through Fairmount Park. When I first started my legs weren't to happy but as I warmed up so did my legs and they eventually found a good pace. About 13.3 miles in some undetermined time so I am calling it 1hr and 43 minutes to give me a conservative pace.

I felt some tightness in my quads which is a totally new thing for me but it was nice that it was somewhere other than my calves.

I got up and right out the door for 10 miles this morning, knowing that if I delayed even a little bit I might find an excuse to miss the run. From the start it was slow run and the 19 degree weather didn't help matters. I went up the path through Wissahickon Park. The rain and cold weather must have been timed just right to make half of Forbidden Drive an icy mess. I stuck to the side as much as I could and stayed light on my feet. This also didn't help my pace.

Saw Seth and Raymond on the way out along with many other runners. It's great to see so many people in the park on a frigid morning. One thing I didn't see were any bikers I don't think there was any way they could have stayed upright with all of that ice.

My energy level was very low and although my legs felt pretty good I just couldn't get any speed going. I resigned myself to try and keep 8:00 pace for the run. No big deal, I just wanted to get the miles in so I could break 65 for the week. 10.5 miles in 85 minutes. I didn't even hit that 8:00 pace.

A grand total for the week of 65.3 miles which is a new high. I swam 45 minutes on Monday night as well. All of this with a cold, that means I have no excuse not to hit 70 -75 miles later in training.