Week -17 is done without much trouble. As I mentioned previously, I did fail my LT workout on Tuesday, but after that, thing were fine. I ran good paces all week long (except for my recovery runs, when I ran over 8 min/mile - as I should). In particular I felt so good on my 9-mile GA on Friday that I ended up running the last 7 miles at 7:13 pace, and it didn't feel hard. Then I topped the week off with a strong 15-miler at 7:36 average, with some hills included.

That's an important point for me to do: I will not neglect hills this cycle, like I did for Bowling Green. I want to be ready for the Newton Hills. I especially like the 15-miler: I had a 110 ft hill in mile 10 with an especially steep last part (it is hard to keep jogging).

Week 16 is easy first, but there is a hard long run at the end: 16 miles with 8 miles at marathon pace. I'm not sure what pace I will follow, but I will probably start out aiming to be just below 7 min/mile.

M: Rest
T: 8 GA w/ 10 ST
W: 12 MLR
T: 5 E
F: 9 GA
S: 5 E
S: 16 L w/ 8 @ MP

After my last post, I just ran another 60-mile week. It was totally fine with a strong, hilly 15-miler. I was excited to start early training on Tuesday, December 4.

Well, it didn't work the way I hoped. For one reason or another, I didn't feel good, and I bombed the first LT run. I ran the first mile at 6:37 and it felt hard, which discouraged me so bad that I aborted the workout (turned it into a kind of a fartlek), and I did a whole week of soul searching, only running a total of 22 miles.

Then I decided that I still want to run Boston, and there is no magic, so I better start training. After my last week I assumed that my LT max was around 6:45, so that was my goal pace today. I failed again, but it was a very weird run, and at least I got in some good training.

I ran the first mile in 6:19, and the second in 6:32, and I felt pretty good. In fact it felt that my speed was oxygen limited, not lactate. Is it possible that your LT and your VO2 max are equal? By the third mile, I was out of breath, and I was totally incapable to push my pace to LT territory. I slowed to 7:45 pace, and I had to stop after the finishing the third mile to catch my breath. After about a minute of rest, I ran a decent 4th mile in 6:35.

So I think the 6:30-6:35 LT might be correct, but my VO2 max is so low that I can't sustain that pace for the duration of an LT run. I'll have to figure something out to solve this. This is a very nonstandard problem - it is probably due to my age, my experience, and the fact that I did no workout (but some decent mileage) in the last 6 months.

Anyway, training is now officially on, and here my week plan:

Mon: Rest
Tue: 9 w/ 4 LT
Wed: 11 MLR
Thu: 5 E
Fri: 9 GA
Sat: 5 E
Sun: 15 L