Time: 6 hours 17 minutes
Comments: Attack of the monster distance runner. By far the greatest effort I have put in since I was a teenager and, very likely, the longest weekly run total I have ever accumulated.
Which is all well and good but I need to keep it in perspective. Trying to crank out this type of mileage weekly is asking a bit too much of my body at this point. I got through this week with a minimum of pain and injury. I doubt I would be as lucky if I kept up this regimen another seven days.
Where it helps me is knowing that by cutting back when I formally start my 'training' in a few weeks, getting up to the mileage levels I want to hit in December or so is a completely realistic goal.
So I am going to head out and get some seriously carb loaded soup for lunch, sit down at the bar with satellite TV on Larco and watch football for an afternoon. And feel completely justified doing it.
I had played around with starting the training in two weeks or so but, looking at my still-incomplete schedule, it made sense to kick it off next week as I originally intended.
At the present time it looks like I am going to lose two weeks from traveling so I will get my 15-week schedule anyway by starting now. And how am I going to inaugurate my four-month odyssey?
With a rest day.
But, after the super long run yesterday, that's the only option that makes sense. I'll shoot for a realistic 30 miles this week but I am more than ready to call it off if I develop any problems.
So next week is pretty much the same as my usual routine over the last few months with a priority on getting the long repeats in that I keep putting off. In fact, that's the only true 'priority' for this seven-day stretch.