Now that I actually hit the big 5-0-0-0, I can talk about how, after my Wednesday run, I realized I might have screwed up. When I finished my race last week, my mileage was 4,973.5. I thought, cool, I can do a 30 mile week, and I’ll hit 5,000 during my long run on Saturday. The problem with that is that my race was on Sunday, and I took Monday as a rest day. After two 5 mile runs on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was at 4,983.5. I really needed a rest day, so two more 5 mile runs before Saturday wouldn’t be possible. So I did the math, and figured out that I’d need to run 6.5 miles on Friday, then 10 on Saturday to get to exactly 5000, and I could pick up another 3.5 miles on Sunday to put me at 30 miles for the week. (If you paid close attention to yesterday’s post, you know that I finished with 5000.1 total miles, and that’s because I got an extra tenth of a mile on Friday.) Yeah, I had to scramble a bit, but I managed to hit my milestone when I said I would.
I got an e-mail from the Tobacco Road Marathon that said that 17.5% of the people who finished the full qualified for the Boston Marathon. Wow. I guess it helps to have a pretty flat course and temperatures in the 40’s. On another note from the race, I got my race pictures, and egads, this batch is more heinous than usual. I don’t know what happened. Either my hair was all over the place (OK, yeah, I’m overdue for a haircut), or I had a look on my face like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. Luckily, I hadn’t planned on buying any pictures anyway.
Weight Check: 162.7 pounds, up 0.1 since my last weigh-in on Saturday before the race. I’ll take it. I’m still drinking too much Mountain Dew, but I guess I was able to almost cancel it out.
| Day | Total Miles |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 5.01 |
| Wednesday | 5.01 |
| Friday | 6.61 |
| Saturday | 10.01 |
| Sunday | 3.41 |
Total: 30.05 miles
Tuesday was my first post-race outing. My legs were a little tired and a little sore, but it wasn’t exactly a surprise. I ran slowly, and got through it.
Wednesday I gave my legs a break but punished my mind with the treadmill. I went a little slower than I had been going on my treadmill runs leading up to my race. My legs were still a little sore due to the race, and my mind was still very unhappy due to the treadmill. I survived.
The rest day on Thursday really helped. I wasn’t sure how my legs would handle 6 and a half miles. I ended up getting to 6.61 just because I wanted to run all the way back home rather than walking one tenth of a mile at the end. I may have run a little faster than I should have, but my legs actually felt good.
Saturday was a pretty big deal. 5,000 aside, it was a good solid run. Again, maybe it was a little faster than I should have run, but then again, maybe my slower pace is improving.
Sunday runs kind of throw off my ideal schedule, but I’m hoping that since this one was short (only 3.41 thanks to the extra tenth of a mile on Friday), I’ll be able to recover and have a semi-normal week. My legs felt OK, so there’s that.
This week, I’ll publish my Race Report for the Tobacco Road Half. As far as running, if I can improve just slightly over last week, I’ll be happy. Depending on the weather, I may finally get in a brewery run. We’ll see how it goes.