On track

Boston Harbor-You know it's cold when 38deg water is steaming.

Building strength takes time and persistence. I have 5 weeks of near consistency 37,36,40,39,43, very pleased with this mileage considering a good percentage of it was done on snowshoes or slopping through slush. It all adds up to time on my feet one way or the other and I feel like I am getting stronger. Yesterday I started to feel a little bit of fatigue during the first 2-3 miles and it gradually just melted away as I warmed up (not easy to do when it is 10 degrees out).  That is a good sign. Keep plugging towards the 15k on the 6th to see where my fitness is at. The Boston Prep 16 miler yesterday had a temp of 8 degrees/-22 for wind chill at race time. Brutal cold on a brutal course, no thanks, not this year.

Superstitions and Training Plans

I have become increasingly superstitious about signing up or talking about running races since I had to bail on the 2009 Manchester Marathon due to swine flu and the 2010 Yankee HC due to pain (appendix issue not yet diagnosed). As such I consistently feel like I will shoot myself in the foot if I sign up for anything or mention that I am going to do a race. Anyhow, I finally got the balls to delete the "racing postponed until further notice" entry under upcoming races and pencil in the Stew Chase 15k in a couple of weeks. Of course I will wait until the morning of to sign up, but health wise I am progressing in the right direction and feel confident that it is time to dust off the cobwebs. Last hard efforts were Mt Washington in June and a 5k in May, so I have been doing nothing but trying to maintain some base mileage after a couple surgeries and the flu. The last few weeks I have found myself more and more "holding back" on runs.  My goal training wise is going to be focusing more on "frequency" .  After surgery I was forced to run shorter, to make up for this I ran more often in those recovery weeks. My total volume was low but my frequency was high. I have found myself taking a day off in every 7 to 9. I think that having frequency targets rather than mileage targets might be a better goal to ultimately increase mileage overall. I was reading something in Runners World by one of the Hansons and he talks about the callousing effect of frequency-which really hit home. Last year I was aiming for 40 mpw and usually taking 2 days of rest, sometimes 3. I think if I was focusing on only just getting out there, I would have been better off. For some reason I developed a tendency to make every run at least7 miles, or think that it was a waste if I did anything less. Over the past few months I have become comfortable w/ 3-5 mile runs, when that is all I can get. I actually think running for over an hour this time of year has been detrimental to my overall training, due to injury and illness in the past. The goal will be to get comfortable running 7-9 consecutive days w/ out rest and once that is establish, gradually increase the length and intensity of specific runs.

2010 Year End

Pros:

• Life, family, friends, health
• Job promotion
• 1:30 for 13.1 @ Alton Bay
• Mt Washington Rd Race w/ E.C.
• Family Vacation in the White Mountains
• Sold House/Moved to the beach
• Good Healthcare
• New perspective

Cons:

• Dropping out of Yankee HC 10 miler
• No Lynn woods racing
• Appendictis turned out to be an appendix tumor-2 surgeries/2 cat scans/Hospitals and Doctors Offices- something I will always have to think about

2011 Goals and Objectives

• Take stock in the positive, appreciate the small things, focus on family
• Stay flexible
• 40 mpw consistent w/out injury or illness, slow and steady fitness improvements
• Take GMAT
• Apply to MBA program
• Take time off this summer with family for vacation
• Yankee Homecoming 10 miler
• Marathon