Training Update

Three days out from the Charlottesville Marathon - my (hopeful) return to marathon racing (as you will recall, I did not "race" Rehoboth). Feeling pretty good. I had my last track workout last night -- 2 mile warm up, 3 miles at marathon pace (although I really ran it at lactate threshhold pace, but don't tell anyone), then 3 miles of cool down (running circles around a track can be very addictive!!)


Anyhow, I've been training with the Boston Bound Marathon Program (which could be also called the spring marathon training program) so we'll see if organized training, and training smarter than I have in the past, pays off. Of course, I could have picked an easier marathon to run. According to their website, the Charlottesville Marathon has 3400 feet of elevation change -- I think mostly in the first half. At least, I've gotten a fair bit of hill training -- Leland Hills, Beach Drive, Mormon Temple Hill, and of course the good ole Rockville Millenium Trail. And several weeks ago, our track workout consisted of 16 x 200m hill repeats at VO2max.

Meanwhile, I am feeling pretty confident about Saturday. Several weekends ago I raced the MCRRC Piece of Cake 10K (definitely not a piece of cake course -- very hilly). Anyhow, I ran a 17 second PR -- 38:42 (or a 6:14 pace). I was hoping to run a 6:10 pace (predicts a sub-3 hour marathon), but a 6:14 pace is close enough for government work, no? I was 12th overall and 3rd in my age group. So I was pretty pleased. And the PR I beat was from 4 years ago -- not too shabby for a 44 year old guy!

Meanwhile, I continue on track for running WAY more miles this year than I've ever done. My March stats: I ran 245.14 miles over 25 days (running 80.6% of the month). My year to date mileage is 647.64 miles. My average run length is 9.1 miles. And I've run 73 days (or 79% of the year).

On the multi-sport front, I don't have as much to report. I only swam 5 times for a total of 13,800 meters. And the bike? Haven't ridden it since Naylor's Beach last September. And if Jordana wasn't using it, my indoor trainer would probably have cobwebs by now. Oh well, Eagleman 70.3 is not until June 12. I figure after the Potomac River Marathon on May 1, I'll start bike training. In any event, if I can run a marathon, I should be able to bike 56 miles. Right?

So there you have it sports fans.

Oh yeah -- if you haven't done so already, please consider joining me in raising funds for cancer research by visiting my donation page at the American Cancer Society: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/gregoryashe