Phase I of Daniels's Gold plan is almost done! Two days left, and no more workouts, just an easy and a long run.

The most important signals are the threshold runs: 20 minutes each week. I decided to run them by feel, just 20 minutes, no splits, and this worked well. The averages were 6:29/mile in week 1, 6:35/mile in week 2, and 6:24/mile in week 3. Week 2 was relatively warm (73 degrees); this shouldn't matter much, but I had no water on me, and I didn't drink after the warmup, so who knows. I'm afraid I may have pushed week 3 a bit too hard (beyond threshold), though it felt like I could do at least 5 more minutes, so maybe not. It was around our house block, so it also wasn't the easiest psychologically.

All this points to 53-54 VDOT, which is not bad at all; it is definitely good sign for a strong fall marathon, if one is held. But until then, let's just continue the standard fitness training; so VDOT doesn't matter all that much. I'll run everything by feel.

Phase II:
M: 75 min E
T: 20 min E + 5 x 3 min H w/ 2 min jg + 20 min E
W: 1 or 2 E runs, 30-40 min each
T: Rest
F: 20 min E + 8 x 200 R w/ 200 jg + 5 min E + 8 x 200 R w/ 200 jg + 5 min E
S: 60 min E (1 or 2 runs)
S: 120 min L

I dropped the strides. I just hate them, they don't make me any faster IMO, there is not a good way to do them, so this is it.

I wish I found a track where I don't have to hop the fence and worry about trespassing charges.