Plan for Saturday:

Get up: 6 AM.
Leave home: 7 AM.
Get to campus 7:30 or earlier.
Get to the start line: 7:45 or earlier.

Revised week. Goal of 52 miles out of which I already completed 31.1, including the long runs. With the warmup and cooldown, race day will be easily 11+ miles. Only 10 miles left, which I will do in two very easy 5 mile installments tomorrow and on Friday.

Looks like my weeks mileage is all messed up. I can't add. I have to revise the week tonight.

Finished the week with 59 miles and all my ailments are gone! My fast workout on Sunday was 5x1200 meters and the splits were very respectable 4:47, 4:51, 4:51, 4:48, 4:46. All the while aiming for 4:57, though I quickly realized I can do much better than that.

Log: Sunday. ~2.25 warmup to track. 5 x 1200 m fast with 800, 800, 600, 6000 recoveries respectively. ~2.25 cooldown home. 60 F, cloudy. NB shoes.

Finally temps are down a bit today; in any case, I did manage to do my longer runs on Monday and Wednesday. So I'm at 42 miles for the week on Thursday. This must be a new record. Only 7 recovery today and 10 with speedwork tomorrow.

Monday afternoon, 12 miles long. Temperature was 84 F, sunny. Shoes: Brooks.

On today's run, after about 5 miles I called it quits. I had various pains, it was hot and I was still somewhat tired. I decided not to risk my health and my body's integrity for stupid mileage goals.

So training was bad this week. Starting with the Monday, when I hurt so much I had to stop, continuing with record breaking temperatures, and then the stupid dehydration...

But let's try to salvage what we can from here. Since I'm racing in two weeks, I'll shift long runs to the beginning of the week. Detailed plans follow:

Week of 03/19 (59 miles).
M: 12 miles at 8:00 or faster.
T: 7.33 miles easy.
W: 15 miles at 8:00 or faster.
T: 7.33 miles easy.
F: 7.33 miles easy.
S: 5 x 1200 meters at 99 sec/lap, with 800 meters recovery (in no more that 4:27/rec). With warmup and cooldown to the track and back it will be about 10 miles.
S: Rest

Week of 03/26 (52 miles):
M: 13 miles at 8:00 or faster.
T: 8 miles easy.
W: 10 miles at 8:00 or faster.
T: 8 miles easy.
F: 5 miles really easy.
S: Papa John's 10 miler
S: Rest.

Yesterday I bonked badly after overheating and dehydration... stupid me, I went for a long run in 78 F, sunny, and with no water and not enough Gatorade. From mile 12, it was a death march. Fortunately I came through a park and a residential area, so I was able to pick up water twice (after not picking up enough in the park), so I resumed continuous running for the last 3-4 miles, but it was still slow and hard.

I should have learned my lesson from the several times this has now happened, but it's hard. First you are fine, just a bit thirsty, then suddenly it all over.

I still completed 17 miles, but the end was slow and grueling. I'm not sure about the training effect of a run like this. Maybe I should repeat it next week... I'll plan my next week tonight.

Tempo run today at 6:46.5 fast portion with a little longer that 5 miles, and accelerating (starting at around 7 min/mile, finishing at around 6:35). A good tempo run, especially in 71 F.

Thursday: Easy 7.8 miles in 1:03:45. 70 F, cloudy. Old Saucony shoes.

81 F today in Louisville, hotter than ever in history on this day. I ran 11.5 miles. My legs/shins/ankles are fine, but I got really tired from running in such a hot weather, especially that I'm not acclimatized.

I ran 7 miles. Wanted to turn back after 0.6. I hope my shin holds up. It hurts some.

After 200 meters I bagged my run today. I had such bad shin pain, I had to limp back to the office. I hope I can start my week tomorrow...

The most annoying thing: shin splints are back, but guess what: it's now the other leg. Just a few days ago I had a scary bout of bad shin splints in my right leg, and now it's the left. It came on gradually on yesterdays long run, and got bad at around mile 10. I still finished my run (15 miles), and I didn't even slow down much. (Am I crazy?) I can alter my stride so that it won't hurt. Though it makes my running a bit less efficient, so it was more tiring at the end of the run.

It's probably just my crazy mileage of 57+ miles a week. I'm not sure how I will deal with the 61 this week. I haven't even decided if I will run today, but in no case I will run anything but easy. Really easy.

My foot is better, no pain this morning, but for scheduling reasons, and also because of a bit carefulness, I'll just go easy today. That is, 7.1 miles.

Next week (week -6), week of 3/12.

Total of 61 miles (record mileage if I can make it), including:

Long runs of 17 and 12 miles.

LT run: this is supposed to be a 4-mile time trial, but I will run a 5-mile tempo instead. After botching the tempo two weeks ago, this is more important. I might even make it longer, like stretching it out to 40 minutes (almost 6 miles). I will try to do sub-6:50, but a 6:30 first mile is unacceptable. The length of this run will be about 9 miles.

Easy runs: 8 + 8 + 7 miles.

I got shin splits today at the end of my run. It's bad, I could barely drive home, it hurt so much to move my right foot between the gas and brake pedals. I hope it will get better by tomorrow, because I want to go long (15 miles) on Saturday and easy on Sunday. This would be somewhat important, because I want to do a quality workout on Monday again. I want to shift the two long runs to the beginning of the week (like long run Monday, second longest Wednesday), so that I can do speed in the weekend. This would be nice, because weekend racing starts soon (to be exact in 3 weeks with the 10 miler).

By the way, I ran the course of that 10 miler this week, and the middle part is ridiculously hilly. It seems like it would be a small miracle if I could finish it in 1:08:40, which would be my HM pace on 10 miles.

Week of 3/7, week -7:

Total 57 miles.

Long runs: 11 and 15 miles at 8:00 or faster.
VO2 max: 5 x 4:00 moderately steep uphill, total of 8 miles.
Easy runs: 7.67 miles each, 3 times.

So I did my 16 miles from 7 to 9am this morning (7:56 pace overall). It was cold and snowy. The run was fairly uneventful, but I just don't like to run in the cold, so I was happy when it was over. I hit the record mileage of 56 this week. 57 is planned for next week.

Yesterday I tried a 5-mile tempo, and side stitches almost ruined it... I got some after a (too fast) 6:30 first mile, and though I managed to control it until mile 4.5, it came back so bad, that I was physically unable to run or walk -seriously, I had to stop. I was standing for about 10 seconds, then I could run again, and finished the last mile in 7:00. The splits were 6:30, 6:54, 6:41, 6:52, 7:00 for an average of 6:48. Which is not bad, but I have to get better with pacing. I think I'm not used to my new endurance. I used to run tempos just going out hard, and maintaining it for 20-30 minutes. Now I have to run over 30-minute tempos, and I have a speed that if I go out hard, I'm too fast at the beginning. My physiology has changed, and I didn't adapt mentally. I will have to start the tempos, and especially the races slower, otherwise I will crash and burn.