One of the things I’ve missed this year so far is doing my really long runs. In the past many years (except the year I had plantar fasciitis) I’ve scheduled marathons throughout the year so that I always kept my mileage up. Changing things up with speed work and pace runs and not focusing quite so much on simply piling up the miles has felt a little strange. Even though I can definitely feel myself becoming a stronger runner, I haven’t been putting in the three and four hour runs on the weekends.

I was just talking with a friend last night (hi Colleen!) who is using our training program in 26.2 Life Lessons: Helping You Keep Pace With the Marathon of Life and she was telling me she feels similarly. Putting in the long miles can make you feel tough (Come on, I know you love to say, “Oh, I just ran 20 miles this morning; what did you do before lunch?”). But the speed and pace work is HARD WORK in a different way. It isn’t as impressive to talk about, but—for me at least—it takes more discipline and commitment.

So here’s what I did this week:

Sunday: Wow, I can’t remember what I did. I think I took the day off of running and just walked with Bill….

Monday: Speed work. Ins and outs (hard on the straight part of the track, recovery on the curves) for 25 minutes at Carol’s work out.

Tuesday: No running.

Wednesday: Pace work. Three 7 minute repeats at a 9:30 pace with a short recovery between each pace segment.

Thursday: Three-mile easy run.

Friday: Five miles with friends (thanks Laura and Janna). We stayed close to a 10 minute per mile pace.

Saturday: Bill and I will be running the Wind Horse Half Marathon route to get ready for marking the course. (Be sure to sign up for this race I direct!! It’s fun and it raises money for one of Bellingham’s sister cities).

I’ve also been trying to stay committed to the three-minute core work. Remember this? It’s a one minute plank, one minute of crunches, and one minute of push ups.

What about you? Are you following the 26.2 Life Lessons program? What are your observations?

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