Weekly Rundown-5 weeks to Philly

Just going to let the cat out of the bag. Since Columbus went well and my body held up to the marathon I am going to attempt to race the Philadelphia marathon in 4 weeks. I haven't been doing any sort of structured training since the Indianapolis Half. Basically I've just been running whatever I feel like running each day with a focus on running with those I enjoy and running at whatever pace I enjoy.

I've just been flying solo and getting in some aerobic miles while waiting for my foot to get to 100%. It still isn't 100% and I don't think it will hold up to any sort of training under 10k pace, but I am hoping I can keep the mileage relatively high for the next three weeks and work in some hill training and some longer faster efforts between half marathon and marathon pace without doing any damage. I am continuing to have ART done on it, bi-weekly massage, cold laser treatment, golf ball rolling, night boot etc! And most days it isn't too bad, but it isn't where I'd like it to be to really attack the next 3 weeks.

So instead I will see what a positive attitude and listening to my body can get for me in 4 weeks! I'm confident I can sneak in under 3 hours if I can keep up my current level of training with a few tempos and hill workouts added in, but I am hopeful I can sneak in a half marathon race here at or under marathon pace and work with a couple of speedy friends on a couple of key workouts to get into low 2:50 shape again. 2:45 is probably a pipe dream, but I won't count myself out, you never know. My endurance is solid, I just need to work on getting my speed back, I don't need to go smoke a 5k, I just need to get that marathon pace as quick as possible in a short 3 weeks with a one week taper :) I'm looking forward to racing a new marathon and seeing what I can do after a year that didn't go as planned, not expecting anything spectacular, but dreaming big anyways.

Last week I wasn't expecting much from as I had assumed the marathon would trash me, but I was pleasantly surprised that I felt great every day. Granted I didn't do any real workouts as I didn't want to push my luck. But I got in 71 easy miles and the body feels great and foot isn't too bad.

71 miles in 8 runs
1 long muddy trail run Saturday
1 decent 10 miler at 7:16 pace in Youngstown
1 token bike ride (about 6 miles hard then 6 miles pacing the lead lady at the peace race)
1 token swim (800 meters progressively getting faster)
1 fun yoga class post run Thursday
1 massage