Training Run

Time: 30 min
Distance: 5 kilometers

Comments: A very nice little run, thank you very much.Instead of the planned 4 miles or so I just put int the regular half-hour. I'm being extra cautious this week and my left knee was feeling a bit achy all yesterday.Started cold and very slow but got into it very quick. By the halfway mark I was having to rein it in a bit, which is a nice change.

Training Run

Time: 45 min
Distance: 9 kilometers

Comments: Up to my butt in busy these days and got out the door way late. But got out there and cranked out a good one.I did the stretching thing hoping to loosen up the left calf but to little avail. Despite that I got started strong, dropped into a brisk pace and held it the whole way. I may have even gotten up to the 3/4 race pace I'd like to be at in a month, but I'm not sure.

Training Run

Time: 30 min
Distance: 5 kilometers

Comments: Very much a recovery run. More like a jog than anything, to be honest.Yesterday was pretty tough. I woke feeling like a bus had hit me and was out of it all day. Then, last night, I didn't sleep worth a damn. All signs of overtraining. So the need to cut back this weeks is pretty clear. In fact, I considered skipping this run but I decided it's prolly best to keep on the schedule but reduce the distance and intensity of the runs.All that said, it was a pretty good effort. Felt strong, no major issues and, overall, wound up rather invigorated by it.

Marathon Training Summary: Week 8

Time: 4 hours 20 min
Distance: 46 kilometers

Comments: Veerah veerah tahrd. Veerah tahrd indeed.After two weeks of intense training my body is feeling the toll of the miles. That's 56 miles or so over 14 days. The most I have done since the massive runs in December of last year that did me in. And lordy my bod is feeling it. Got a two-and-a-half hour nap in this afternoon quite by accident. I meant to rest a bit and get off my feet and POW - before I knew it - I was out.Given the lack of progress the prior month this has been a welcome relief but, at the same time, putting this much mileage on all at once is rather perilous. So I'm actually needing to be more wary of injury than when I was fighting off the litany of aches and pains.Injury update: Surprisingly, very little. Just a huge amount of exhaustion and the threat of a nice little bout with DOMS.

Long Run

Time: 2 hours 5 min
Distance: 22 kilometers

Comments: This one was tough. I knew when I got up that I wasn't in peak shape for it but I laced them on and got out the door before I could talk myself out of it. There wasn't any injury keeping me from doing it (see below) but I knew I was tired and the workload of the last two weeks has taken it's toll. But, this is what the long runs are for - training yourself to push through being tired and wanting to give up. This is my battlefield now. I know how to handle this bastard.Anyhow, the run went relatively well. I took it down to Chorillos first which gave me a few hills and pavement work. Then, after getting all the way to Playa Herradura, I turned around and ran the length of the seafront to just about M,agdalena del Mar. Then ret

Training Run

Time: 45 min
Distance: 9 kilometers

Comments: Another very good run. Got into a groove and rode it the whole freaking way. Awesome.Started slowly and got into a rhythm pretty fast. Felt completely in control and with plenty in the tank. So I put it at a solid pace - maybe 3/4 race pace - and rode it as long as I could. Which turned out to be the whole run.What seems clear is that I'm starting to cash the strength building checks I was writing over the past few weeks. It doesn't mean I'm over the hump but, if I focus on maintaining the progress, this race could become a reality.

Conditions:

Hour: 9:30 a.m.
Surface: concrete/asphalt
Warm-up: 1 km run/stretching
Weather: overcast
Temperature: 60 degrees
Humidity: 85 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Miraflores, Peru
Shoes: Brooks Trance
Con Musica

Injury upda,te: Had a twinge in th

Training Run

Time: 60 min
Distance: 10 kilometers

Comments: This was easily the best run I have had this year. I felt in control and solid the whole way. Skipped dinner last night so I didn't have the tank I wanted but that's just being picky.Had a ton of things to take care of today so I got out pretty late. Walked down to the beach and got going very very slow. But it built up a lot faster than I expected and I was trucking along pretty well after just ten minutes or so. Since I was in the groove I just hung with it.Since I wasn't flopping all over the place I was able to focus on pacing, posture and footfall. Really concentrate on the details of the run rather than just try and hold it all together. That was a very nice feeling.Put it on the sand for a bit, a little weird but not too bad. Kept to the dirt and the few hills I have to run but the terrain seems to be working out for me.

Training Run

Time: 30 min
Distance: 5 kilometers

Comments: Started pretty late today since I got busy doing actual paying work this morning. That's OK since it meant I was more warmed up before getting into the run.Since I put in a big week and a serious long run last week and I'm planning to replicate that effort over the next seven days I made this a half-hour recovery run. Although I did put it in on the cement surface of the malencon. I figure I need to get some hard-top work in over the course of all this.So it was a casual run. No crazy pace or struggle or nada. Almost a jog, really. And it felt pretty good the whole way.

Marathon Training Summary: Week 7

Time: 4 hours 15 min
Distance: 43 kilometers

Comments: It has been more than a complete calendar month of underachieving for me. Five solid weeks of unfinished workouts and training schedules.So it was nice for the legs to cooperate enough to get in my first solid week of work since the week prior to kicking off formal 'training.' Three decent mid-week runs and one honking long one to cap it off. The concern, obviously, is that I might be pushing too hard given the slackitude of the previous weeks. Doubling my time and distance from last week to this is not the most advisable procedure. And while my pre-training schedule was better than what the last few weeks indicate, this is still a substantial increase from those numbers as well.This week calls for more of the same and then, the week after, I cut back a bit. Getting through this week was critical to make the marathon even a possibility, getting through the next two weeks will ,tell how realistic that h

Long Run

Time: 2 hours
Distance: 20 kilometers

Comments: The first real long run of my training and the first solid week of training since I got this thing going.I hit the road pretty early. The week has been taking its toll. I'm sleeping hard as a rock. I got out early knowing it would be a long long haul for this one. The weather was ideal, a bit chilly and overcast with an intermittent mist. Completely miserable for normal people, in other words.Knowing I wanted to stay on the dirt I headed westerly, up the beach. After getting out of Miraflores it turned into an apocalyptic hellscape out of Mad Max or something. Rubble, burning refuse and shredded plastic bags flapping in the breeze. But it was dirt so my legs were happy and I stuck with it.I got all the way to San Martin, where the main road heads back into the city and turned around. It was a bit shy of the one-hour mark so I made it all the way back to the starting point but ,had to tack on another 2