I’ve been strictly capping my weekly volume at 90 so I wouldn’t be tempted to make arbitrary mileage raises, but coming off a couple weeks of enforced cutbacks I didn’t need my usual Monday recovery 9.  Instead, I saved it as a Get Out Of Jail Free card in case I needed a shorter run later in the week, but I ended up not needing it.  (and ok, maybe there was also some petulance involved, a “so there!” to having been injured)

I wore the knee strap one more time, on Monday, but it annoyed me and I couldn’t decide if it helped or hindered so that was the end of that.  I’ve been running without problems since then, though occasionally stopping to stretch if I sense any knee tightness coming on.

Returning to my regular mileage level was uneventful (aside from being hugely happy-making and a big fat relief) but I was wimpy about running fast again, afraid I might aggravate something.  It’s amazing how fragile you can feel after months of feeling nearly indestructible.

Thanks to a week of awful weather, the thought of running hard was extremely unappealing so I had no problem holding off.  But by the end of the week I was antsy about losing any speed I had left, so Thursday I trepidatiously added in some strides.  That went fine, so the next day I did a couple miles at 7:30 to see how that felt and then finished off with a set of strides.  Modest efforts, to be sure, but at least it got the ball rolling again.

Back To My Old Tricks Week In Review
Monday: 11@8:33
Tuesday: 13@8:29
Wednesday: 12@8:18
Thursday: 16@8:21 (6 strides)
Friday: 12@8:11 (couple quicker miles + 5 strides)
Saturday: 16@8:12
Sunday: 12@8:04
Total: 92 mi (avg pace 8:18)

I’ve Been Googlefied!
If you’re a Facebook friend or 3:20 buddy, you already know this, but here’s something crazy I discovered the other day while using Google Street View to check out something on my apartment building.  It’s me!  You can even go down the street for a different perspective of my ass. Hilarious.

The funniest thing besides seeing myself (which was really weird) is that I remember that day perfectly, though it was over 1½ years ago.  I was out there trying to fix the latch on the trunk of my car.  Good thing you can’t see my face because I was completely pissed off.

My goal was to hit the same as last week, 7:15 avg, since that’s McMillans corresponding 5K pace for a 3:40 marathon. I begin the intervals and my first one is 7:26…hrmph!  That sucks.  OK, time to start paying attention!  Got it together and did the deed.  Intervals splits were 7:26, 7:14, 7:09, 7:12, 7:08…avg. 7:14. So it ended up ok, though I’d have preferred even pacing.

Funny though, afterwards I felt really energized and instead of my usual apres-interval-poopedness where it’s all I can do not to walk home, I continued on to run 4.5 more miles at 9:01 avg. pace, leaving me with a total of 10.5 for the morning.  This is good because I’m having to rearrange my schedule to accommodate Monday’s race and toploading the week will allow me to get a mini-taper in there.

Meanwhile, I’m having little shivers of anticipation for the race.  It’s an automatic PR because it’s my first 4-mile race, but I want to do well.  On the other hand, with marathon training it can go either way – you have tired legs so short races might not be up to par, then again, you’ve been improving fitness, so it could be a good time.  I don’t race a whole lot, so it’s hard not to want to set an aggressive goal.

I think the way I’ve figured is to take my 7:52avg. from last week’s 7 mile tempo, convert it to 12K, then input that as a race into my Daniels’ spreadsheet, which predicts a 30:19 (7:35 pace) for a 4-mile race.  Since I’m basing it off a tempo, it shouldn’t leave me redlining.  Then again, I don’t know the course at all, it’s in a different town – though I must say, Google Street View was very helpful in this regard.  I was able to “travel” a good chunk of the course that way, so it’s not a complete mystery.

My main thing is, I need to stop making races (especially little ones like this) so “oooh, big deal” in my head.  I think the way to do that is to do more of them so when they suck, it just gets absorbed into the mishmash of race outcomes.  Here’s to a future of mucho racing and carefree attitudes!  Yeah, right, haven’t I said this before?

As you know, I’m running Steamtown in October. The thing that defines this course as unusual is a huge elevation loss for the bulk of the race. Granted, there are three hills peppered so inconveniently at the end, but in a nutshell, it’s a downhill race.

To the uninitiated, you’d think this would be a “yippee and fabu!” type of situation, but 26.2 downhill has the potential to hurt and hurt bad – quads screaming for mercy long before the finish line is even in view. Or so I’ve been told.

Today, on the RW Steamtown Marathon thread, someone posted a smart tip about how she had trained for it last year, finding a mile-long hill to work on. I have several 1/2 mile hills to work with, but I love the idea of a long, miserable mile. So I posted the question to a local running club forum and was given an excellent road that fits the bill perfectly. Here’s where the awe and amazement comes in.

I was looking at it on Google Maps and something I hadn’t noticed before, “Street View”, makes itself apparent. Clicking on it, I was suddenly on that street! (virtually anyway) Pressing the little arrows took me on a tour up the whole road where I was able to see that, “ok, sidewalk is on the left, bike lanes on both sides, so the sidewalk ends here…no prob I’ll hop on the path right there”, not to mention seeing how steep it is and even where I can park. Street View rocks!

Unfortunately, it’s not available everywhere, just a few metropolitan areas at this point, and even here in Philly, not all the streets are covered, but WOW for the coverage it does have. If you’re in one of the covered areas, you’ll find this a wonderful tool, opening up a whole new way of “testing” new running routes beforehand.

Check it out in action. Click on the photograph that comes up in the white box. You might have to pan to get the Street View fully visible, but once you’re “in the street”, you can advance by pressing the little white arrow on the route (or you can move the little guy on the map itself).

I must go now to search out more swell running routes because this is So cool. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m really going to the store with Nick to get some candy. Later, my lovelies.