A Week In Review

Last week I did more cross training than running in an effort to let my foot heal without losing ground marathon training. I have a tendency to run through injury and this training cycle is largely devoted to breaking my bad training habits. Much of last week was spent reminding myself that there are times when less is more.

This week, however, has marked a return to foot health and some challenging training. The tempo run that I did at 4:30 in the morning with a -2 degree windchill was mentally quite challenging. My time was slower than it should have been because my body took longer to warm-up and get to tempo pace than it should and I was using a huge amount of energy shivering while I ran. All of this despite 2 layers of clothes from the neck down!

Friday brought the long dreaded hill repeat workout. I survived and might eventually learn to like these workouts. At the very least, I need to learn to make friends with them - marathon survival depends on it.

Today was my 12 mile long, slow run. I've struggled to hold back on recent long runs but nailed my goal pace today. The route was beautiful and challenging. I covered Winter Hill in Somerville, Bunker Hill in Charlestown and a few other smaller hills along the way.

In between, I have stuck to a fairly strict routine of cross-training, weight lifting and core work. I realized toward the end of today's run that the core work is really starting to pay off. The other realization I had while out running the streets today in 2 week I entering the challenging training weeks where encouragement and check-ins are critical (Hint,Hint: leave comments).

Up this week: more running, mailing letters to potential donors and working on a fundraising event. I need to raise an average of $630 per week for the next 13 weeks to meet my goal. I'd like to ask you to give $5, $10, $25, $100 to help meet that goal. My 4-year old keeps asking why more people don't give - you can help to shift the conversation with him to focus on all of the fantastic people who do.