Monday 10-29-07

My training schedule has gotten a little out of sync the past couple of days but I am still going to maintain the minimum distances so I guess it really doesn't matter. I have been out of town today so I ran in the afternoon in the hotel fitness center on the treadmill. I typically hate running on a treadmill but I was determined to make this a beneficial workout. I somehow sense my training becoming stagnated and a creeping fear that I am not getting in proper shape for the marathon is growing. I decided to go ahead and do Tuesday's 7-8 quality run on the treadmill so I could get a better feel for my speed capability. I varied my speed from 6 mph to 8 mph for various periods of time as well as throwing in a few changes of incline from 3-5%. I ended up running 8-1/4 miles at a little over a 9 minute per mile pace. I am pretty psyched about it because I was able to see an improvement in my leg strength and ability to recover from a winded state. Man, it is hard to believe those runners averaging 6 minute miles because at the 7-1/2 minute pace I ran it felt like the treadmill was about to throw me in the floor. This was a another milestone workout for me.