Another Solid Training Week - 1/27/12

The week started off Saturday morning with a 20K along the C&O Canal on snow/sleet mix. The footing wasn't terrible, but there were places where I could feel the front of my toes slip a little. I tried to adjust by making sure I was mid-foot striking, which is the form I'm going for, and I think it helped a little, but it wasn't really going to make too much of a distance. My goal for the race was to run without looking at my watch and to hold back some. The weather and the ground made that easy. I spent most of the race running with Josh Hunsberger, a 2:50 marathoner. With about four miles to go, I said to him, "How far do you think Matt (Anderson) is ahead of us?" We guessed around a minute, so I told him I was going to try to catch him, knowing I didn't have the legs for it after a tough week of speed and strength training. In a minute or two, Josh caught me and said I had stirred his competitive spirit. I let him go, and he did catch Matt and hold him off at the end. When I finished in 1:27:55 (8th overall), I was laughing, proud of myself that I goaded him into catching Matt, who was surprised it wasn't me passing him. On Sunday, I biked 30 miles, doing a lap of RFK and three laps of Haines Point. I thought the Patriots would score a point for each lap, and I figured they would need to top 30 to win. Turns out I was wrong, but glad the Patriots won, otherwise, I'd have worn a coworker's sparkle-and-lace Ravens jersey. She was a good sport wearing my Richard Seymour Patriots jersey around the office on Monday. Monday was a strength training day with an hour run; Tuesday was hills - I did a new type of workout that I called 90-60-30 where I sprinted up a hill for 90 seconds, then ran down, then up a different hill for 60 seconds, then down, then up for 30 seconds and repeated three times and three in one last 30 second hill at the end - this hill training should help prepare me for Boston; Wednesday was a repeat of Monday; and Thursday was tempo work at the track - I ran two miles of warm-up then ran a downhill mile in 6:17 to get me to the track followed by three miles around 6:26 then back home uphill for one mile in around 6:57 then finished with two for a total of ten miles after Sammy joined me for the last bit. Earlier today, I did five very wet miles around my neighborhood with Sammy, who smelled like wet dog when I left for work, and tossed in a strength training set before work. I'm a bit sore today, and I hope to get a solid 17-18 in tomorrow at some point to start the new week. Otherwise, nothing else noteworthy happening today.