I'm Still Standing

Well, first of all, NO, I did not run outside today.  I'm kind of a heat wimp; I did try it, but I really had trouble breathing, so rather than risk heatstroke I moved the run inside on the treadmill.  I'm thankful for our Snap Fitness membership for just that reason.  Also, I've been doing some good core, weight and conditioning workouts during the week.  I'm a long ways from looking like Charles Atlas (I'm down to 154 pounds and still look like the guy who gets sand kicked in his face.  For those of you younger than 40, look it up.) but I really like the machines that focus on one particular muscle group.  After a few workouts I can really notice the strengthening of my core.  Looking at the forecast for the week, I may be spending more time at Snap!

Now for the week in review.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  I completed all my workouts and set another weekly mileage record of 94.01 miles.  I suffered a bit of fatigue mid-week, but bounced back quickly and completed intense workouts Friday (15 miles) and Sunday (20 miles).  The more miles and slower pace continues to work for me.  I like the speed in which my body recovers from intense workouts.  I can now run hard on Tuesday (10 to 14 miles with 6 to 8 half-marathon pace) then run easy Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and be ready to do it all over again by Thursday or Friday.  However, the base-building phase is almost complete and in a few weeks the mileage stays about the same, but the intensity gets cranked up a notch or in some cases, several notches.  In a kind of a sick, masochistic way, I'm looking forward to it.  Week 12 for example has a similar mileage total to this week, but includes a 12 mile run with intervals, 6 X 1k at 5k race pace and a 20 mile run with 14 miles at marathon race pace.  Sandwiched between these two quality workouts is a 15 mile run on Wednesday.  15 miles on Wednesday?  What the hell?  Okay, it kinda sounds like fun.

I made a musical discovery this week.  Most of you are going to laugh, but I think I finally get The Rolling Stones!  I've been a pretty serious music lover since about the age of 13.  So, yeah, its taken me 37 years to finally acknowledge that The Rolling Stones are a pretty good rock band.  I've been pretty much indifferent to Mick Jaggar and the boys for most of my life, but after listening to Let it Bleed, Beggars Banquet, Sticky Fingers, and Exile on Main Street over the past few weeks I am now officially a convert.  I blame "Classic Rock" radio format for ruining The Stones for me.  My "runners moment" this week happened to this song on my long run today.  Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fa4HUiFJ6c

Happy Running!