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Given the craptastic snow conditions in the GPA over the past month, I've been running on weekdays and skiing on the weekend. The "trail runs" on the above calendar are almost all Back Cove. Indeed I've not really hit real trails yet; only TNR@Twin Brook last week and SMR@Pineland this morning. I've been addicted to the long ski races on the weekends. Racing is over but I am going to Great Glen tomorrow for one last long ski day. The roller skiing above was limited to double poling. I found that I really like double poling on roller skis. I'm too out-of-balance to glide long on a roller ski so I don't v2 very well (or maybe my brain recognizes that the consequences of being out of balance while gliding on one roller ski are a little more consequential than on a snow ski). The "Treadmill runs" are my Mt. Washington training runs using 11.5% grade. All but one have included a race pace segment for 25-35 minutes. If I don't get into Mt. Washington than I'm sure these will help my Pineland race.
On Wednesday I almost quit running. I've been having so much fun skiing that I thought, why run? Why not bike, and hike, roller ski, and row (concept II) and avoid the constant injuries that plague all distance runners (at least those that add in speed work and other fast runs). I couldn't decide weather to bike or row, so I went out for a run to think about it.
I've entered the running season thinking about a marathon. I always thought that I'd wait until my running peaks before entering a marathon but I'm starting to get ready to dip my toes in. I don't plan on being a marathoner. But I'd like to run one well. The marathon is a humbling sport and to run it well would require really good training, or many, many years of base in the body. I'm not sure that I can ramp up the mileage necessary to run a marathon well. I was thinking that I could do it by running doubles instead of longer singles but now I think I'm going to level off at 40-45 miles/week and augment that with some cross training. But the purpose of the cross training *is not* to run faster but to stay in better ski shape for next winter. It all comes back to skiing! So I'm going to try to add rowing, double poling on roller skis, and a long weekend bike ride in the mix. I don't have a lot of confidence that this cross training will last long.
Jeff, I think you could run a good marathon with a 40 mile a week plan. Everyone's body is different and doing lots of miles doesn't work for everyone! 40 sounds reasonable, and I somehow have a feeling you could run pretty fast if you picked the right race :-) Glad you're getting up to GG tomorrow for one last ski! The photos from yesterday that Howie posted on FB looked awesome!!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Danielle. Rick qualified for Boston running a plan that had him under 45 for his highest mileage week. It did have the requisite speed work day.
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