Like pretty much every conference week, last week was a failure in training. Too much travel and work... but still managed to get out 30 miles, but no tempo run. And I'm still recovering and I haven't run yesterday. But I'll try to continue:

Week of Sept. 26:

32 miles. Consisting of

13 mi long run on Wednesday.
6 mi tempo in the weekend with 3 or 3.5 miles at 7:00 min/mile.
3 easy runs at 4.33 miles each.
Easy runs at 8:18 min/mile.

Finished the week as planned. I did a 3-mile tempo at sub-7 minute average pace, but I couldn't do a 4th mile. That's OK, I didn't expect to be able to do it (though I hoped a little...)

Next week:

31 miles, easy runs at 8:19.
13-mile long midweek.
6-mile tempo in the weekent, at least 3 fast miles (at 7:00), but I'll try more if I can (even 3.5 is something).
3 easy runs of 4 miles each.

13 miles last night at 8:11. Very even pacing. I love to do these long runs.

This week (30 miles, 8:20, 7:00):

13 miles long run midweek
6 miles tempo in the weekend
3 runs of 3.7 miles each

I finished the week with 28.51 miles, of which there was 13.12 mile long run at 8:11, and a 6.15 mile tempo, with 3+1 fast miles at 7:00, 7:06, 6:46, (pause), 6:56. I tried 4 continuous miles at 7:00, but after the 3rd mile, I knew I couldn't manage a 4th, so I decided to stop after the 3rd; then, on a whim, I decided to run a 4th fast mile after a slow one. My pacing still sucks, but that is kind of normal after a long break in speed workouts. It is a bit disappointing that I couldn't run a 4-mile tempo, but it is still a lot better than my tempo last week. I still have a few weeks to be able to do a 4-mile tempo at 7:00.

Scratch the SmartCoach plan. It's stupid. Now that I see its details, I don't find it good at all. So I'm starting anew. Some basic facts:

The Derby Half Marathon (I refuse to call it a "Mini Marathon") is on April 28. In any version of Pfitzinger's plan, the weeks go like this:

01/16: Week 14
01/23: Week 13
01/30: Week 12
02/06: Week 11
02/13: Week 10
02/20: Week 9
02/27: Week 8
03/05: Week 7
03/12: Week 6
03/19: Week 5
03/26: Week 4
04/02: Week 3
04/09: Week 2
04/16: Week 1
04/23: Race week

I have 18 weeks before the plan starts. By the time I'm starting the plan, I have a few goals:

- My MPW should be at least 45.
- My pace for easy runs should be 8:00 and I should be able to do 6:45 paced tempos for at least 20 minutes.
- I should keep doing 12-13 mile long runs 3 weeks out of 4.

Here is the plan. The order of the fields is MPW, easy pace, tempo pace. The long run is always 12-13 miles at easy pace. I gave myself 4 weeks to get to 7 minutes in tempos, because I'm not really there yet, but it will be hard to predict when I'll get there. In January, I should be able to start the Pfitzinger plan with the McMillan paces for 1:30 HM.

09/12: 30 mi, 8:20, 7:00
09/19: 31 mi, 8:19, 7:00
09/26: 32 mi, 8:18, 7:00
10/03: 33 mi, 8:17, 7:00
10/10: 34 mi, 8:16, 6:59
10/17: 35 mi, 8:15, 6:58
10/24: 36 mi, 8:14, 6:57
10/31: 37 mi, 8:12, 6:56
11/07: 38 mi, 8:11, 6:55
11/14: 39 mi, 8:10, 6:54
11/21: 40 mi, 8:09, 6:53
11/28: 41 mi, 8:08, 6:52
12/05: 42 mi, 8:07, 6:51
12/12: 43 mi, 8:06, 6:50
12/19: 44 mi, 8:04, 6:49
12/26: 40 mi, 8:03, 6:48
01/02: 44 mi, 8:02, 6:47
01/09: 45 mi, 8:01, 6:46

Week 1 results: 27 miles, 1 tempo (4 fast miles): partial success only, 1 long run (8 miles): hardest 8 miles I have ever had (sooo much pain, mostly from my tooth, and supplemented with the worst side stitches).

Week 2 plan:

Speedwork: 3 x 1600 m in 6:33 each and 800 m recovery. With 1-1 mile warmup and cooldown, total of 6 miles.

Long: 13 miles.

Easy runs: 3 + 3 + 2 miles.

Easy and long runs at 8:21/mile.

Total is 27 miles.

The Thursday early morning tempo didn't go very well. The fast miles were 6:45, 6:58, 7:10, 7:18. It's not even the 7:04 average (after fractional seconds) that bothers me - after all that is only 2 seconds/mile slower than planned, but the fact that the pace is decreasing and that I couldn't run faster than 7:18 in the fourth mile. I probably would have faired better with slower first miles, but it is always hard to pace myself on the first fast runs of a training cycle. For now, plan doesn't need to be changed.

I had my wisdom tooth extracted Friday morning and I was in bad pain. I took some hydrocodone up until Friday night, so I didn't run on Saturday - I had terrible headaches and the usual opiate hangover on Saturday (plus the pain from the tooth removal). I toughed it out on Saturday, so I would not have the after effects on Sunday, and I can finally run. I plan 8 miles for today.