Sunday, September 30

38.3 miles this week is done. Next week is 42. My age. But by the end of next week, it'll be even more than that.

I'll run five times 6 miles plus a 12-mile long run.

Monday, September 24

So far so good. 2 x 15 mile hike with a heavy backpack on the difficult Knobstone Trail. Check. 35 miles in the week of 9/17. Check. Week of 9/24 started.

Friday, September 14

Six months went by since my last post. As any reader would guess: it isn't because I was too busy running my greatest races...

In fact after the setback in the spring I had trouble bouncing back. It started well in March and early April, but then I got busy, and my training in May was terrible (MPW: 16, 31, 8, 33). Then more work in the summer with travel, and I didn't focus on running very much. I kept up with exercise somewhat (hiking in Colorado was quite strenuous) but not much running at all. July was a bit more consistent (regular running is summer camp), but low mileage: MPW's of 28, 34, 29, 18. Granted, the 18 mile week had some crazy mountain biking adventure in it.

August was again about struggling to get back to training. MPW's of 20, 15, 21, 16, with pretty uniformly 5-mile runs, and large breaks of not running during the weeks.

And now it's September. I managed 31 and 35 miles for the last two weeks with some 10-mile "long" runs. This week I'll be down to 25, but we do some good hiking this weekend on the Knobstone Trail. And why am I writing today? Because this morning I registered for Boston.

Once we're back next week, I'll try to build up my base again. I'll go for another 35 mile week next week, and then try a 10% rule until I reach 60. If all goes well, it would look like this:

Week of 9/17: 35
9/24: 38
10/1: 42
10/8: 46
10/15: 50
10/22: 55
10/29: 60

Boston 18-week training starts on December 10, so I'll have more than a month to maintain 60 MPW and add some quality work. One thing to consider is to start a week earlier in anticipation for winter vacation.