Good week/weak

I finally adjusted from the trip. It's nice to be back, but I miss seeing my son daily. This weekend and the next two weekends are 25-30 hour weekends officiating tennis, so training will be limited. Then I have 7 of the following 8 weekends with little tennis needs. Great time to set the base. I need to determine the 2009 race schedule other than Grandma's marathon. My main focus is not doing anything to make my 25th consecutive Grandma's Marathon challenging.

Over the past 2 months, I have tried to enjoy running and look forward to the chance to run... although I found it hard to run 12-minute miles and felt like I was working so hard doing so. Could it have been the snow and ice? Could it have been the extra shake in the mid-section? So, this past week, I decided to run at least four (4) or seven (7) days with nothing slower than 10-minute miles. I had thought this would be hard as I have been struggling.

Here is what I accomplished:

Monday 3.2 miles at 9:20 pace Max HR 158
Tuesday 3 at 9:57 pace Max HR 165
Thursday 4 miles at 9:15 pace Max HR 153
Friday 4.2 miles at 9:17 pace Max HR 151

To many who read this blog, a 15-mile week is only a daily jaunt. However, I am pleased... and I was surprised. Tuesday was pure hell, but I enjoyed it. This is the first time in months I felt good about running. In the scope of things, this is less than a 15-mile week.

This is after a lame start to 2009: 16 runs and 47.5 miles (average pace 12:10) for January and 10 runs and 37.1 miles (average pace 11:32) for February. But the last week of February was good. I am looking forward to March. That's good!

Carry on!