Totally have had a couple of kick arse weeks over the past couple. Been hitting the road hard, upping my mileage and doing my intervals. Two weeks ago I hammered a 1200 meter repeats workout in Lady's Wildwood Park. 5X1200 (was supposed to do 5X1000) and I felt amazing. Ran at 6:00 pace for all 5 and actually decreased my time with each one. Heck yea! Then took a day of cross training, hitting up the bike at work for a good hour ride. I'll tell you what, that did more of a number of my quads than I expected, holy smokes! But I hammered through it, and hit the road once again on Wednesday for a 6 mile tempo. I decided that because the bike hammered my quads, I should probably run fast but comfortable. Listen to my body because it is way to early to injure myself now. I ended up running just under 6:40 pace which was decent for how I felt. Then I hammered out a couple of easy 6 miles the next couple of days and a long 12 on Saturday. The 12 felt pretty good, I topped that off at 6:35 pace which made me feel pretty amazing.

Came back the next week and hammered out another 6X1200 in the park. I didn't feel as strong this time, but I did what I needed to do. Took a complete rest day on Tuesday because I didn't feel the greatest during the Monday workout and man did that help. Hopped on the rail trail on Wednesday and slammed a 6.5 mile tempo at 6:20 pace. I felt incredible and everytime I felt like I was slowing I did a little burst to get me going again. Mentally this was a great run for me. Came back for another couple of easy days before running an easy 10 on Saturday once again. My goal was to be on my feet for an extended time without killing my legs. I ran 7:00 pace for the 10 which was ok for how hot it was and how I felt. Oh and did I mention that I've been killing my legs in the gym every Mon, Wed, Fri for the past couple of weeks? And still hitting the times I want at this phase of my training! Feeling pretty stoked right now.

Today was the start of this weeks hammer fest. I decided that instead of hitting the gym this week, I'm going to start to double. I got my fourth point of contact out of bed at 0430 this morning and headed to Keene for a nice 4 mile stroll down Maple Ave. Made me feel pretty good, I enjoy morning runs. Then I made the ultimate decision to hammer some hills tonight. In fact, I went to Drummer Hill and did 3 complete drummers. What felt the best was that I ran them at sub 7 minute pace and I felt like I could keep going but I ran out of time. Total miles for today.........15.3!!!! I'm feeling pretty good about my training right now........I really feel like the Hartford Marathon is going to be a breakthrough race for me! I'm pretty excited! Now it's decision time, to rest or to cross train tomorrow.......I guess we'll see how I feel! With that, I'm calling it a night!

Gonna try this again, I'm not real good at keeping up with the updates! But I'm back at it once again. Vermont didn't go as planned with the last half of the marathon completely falling apart on me. Ran the first half perfectly, went through at 1:25:00. But the second half was a totally different story, finishing 23 minutes slower than I wanted for a total time. Whatever, it's in the past now. I'm back in the saddle and gearing up for a fall marathon. Just signed up for the ING Hartford Marathon, so it should definitely be a good time. Training is going to get serious this time as I think I'll have a lot more time to get my runs in. However, I'm battling a slight case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot, but fluff it, I'll push through! Got a few surprise races planned from now until October, so we'll see how this program goes. Even going to take a try at the mountain scene with the Race to the Top of Vermont in August. Not a huge fan of hills, but it should definitely be a new, fun experience. As of right now, early in my plan, I'm feeling pretty good so stand by, let's see what I can do!