I don't have time for a long entry, as the season finale of Ice Road Truckers is on (yeah, I know -- but I've been told that we all need guilty pleasures); yet I feel compelled to shout across the deep abyss into which this blog unfolds that I ran a total of 40.3 miles this week, the first 40-mile week that I have ever logged, Monday to Sunday. The most I've logged in a week prior to this was the 38.8 I completed a few weeks before Nashville this Spring. Yeah, I had to do nearly 16 miles on a treadmill, and the last 3+ miles done at the track this morning consisted mainly of stiff-legged recovery jogging, but it's done.
I'm still a couple of weeks away from serious marathon training, and I'm moderately satisfied with how the base training has gone this summer. I had hoped to work my way up to 50-mile weeks by Labor Day; but after 3 straight 35+ weeks, I'm due for a cutback week, and won't get more than 45 the final week in August. But 45 will do. Given the oppressive heat and the other things that I've been forced to wrestle with with this summer -- from intense job stress to having to learn to run on a treadmill (more on this later), I'll take it, for it is more than I've ever had, and a nice little base upon which to build something fun. I would, indeed, be fun to set a few PRs this fall & winter -- maybe a half-marathon in under 1:45, a sub-22 5k, or 26.2 in 3:50 or less. At the very least, I will come back stonger. That I know. How much is the only question.
