Goals:

• Complete all scheduled runs
• Continue achilles recovery
• Take adequate time for rest

Schedule:

• Monday – Rest
• Tuesday – 7 @ 9:58
• Wednesday – 5K @ 9:54
• Thursday – 6 + strides @ 9:20
• Friday – Rest
• Saturday – 7 @ 9:18
• Sunday – 10 @ 9:26

Recap:

This week was pretty good, considering it’s a six mile jump over my down week last week. I’ve been good about keeping my heart rate in the right zone during runs, and stretching after the runs. I’ve been rolling and wearing compression socks and icing when necessary. I’m feeling really good.

I took out the heel cups from my running and regular shoes because they were starting to cause problems in my tendons. I’m feeling much better with them out, but my arches do tend to start aching when my legs get tight. I’m trying to wear shoes with good support in them when I’m not running. Hopefully those ankle tendons will calm down in the next couple of weeks with continued care.

It was nice to get up and out early for my run on Saturday. With it being about 10º cooler than it usually is when I run, I was able to push the pace at the same heart rate I’m usually running at. Not nice enough to do it during the week, but nice enough to keep doing it on the weekends.

The long run this morning went splendidly. For the first time in weeks, the niggles shut up for ten miles and let me just enjoy exerting myself. I ended up getting out a little later this morning, so the latter miles were getting really hot. I weighed myself when I got home and had lost about two pounds during the run.

I picked up a couple of new podcasts and have been enjoying House of Run and Cloud259 now, in addition to my current podcast repertoire.

Looking Forward:

Because of the way I had to tweak the plan to get it to fit my time frame, I’m making another jump to 36 miles next week. I’ll stay there for another week, before increasing again. I’m not totally tied to any of these mileage increases, but it’s all going to depend on how my legs, ankles, and feet are feeling. Not hitting 45 MPW isn’t going to derail my fall training, but not recovering enough from mileage increases will.

So far I’m okay sticking to the plan because I’m having a lot of success with the ROLL Recovery R8 torture device/deep tissue annihilator. If that stops being effective (which I doubt will happen) then I’ll have to cut back on the mileage, but I don’t think I’ll need to until then.

I’m beginning to think about my goal for the DRC half. Based on my latest 5K, Jack Daniels has me being fit for a 1:46. When I looked last night, Pfitzinger had me a little closer to 1:40, I think. I think a sub-1:40 goal would be aggressive, but I’d love to have that PR. Obviously I don’t have to decide yet, and since Pfitzinger is largely a heart rate-based plan, I don’t have to define much based on paces. There’s still time, but if we get closer and I’m feeling good, I think 1:40 might be what I’m shooting for.