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| Budapest, Hungary |
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| Budapest - Danube River |
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| Bratislava, Slovakia |
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| Bratislava Trail |
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| Amazing trail in the hills of Bratislava. |
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| Crystal clear mountain lake, Slovakia |
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| Disturbing Statue #1 |
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| Disturbing Statue #2 |
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| Prague, Czech Republic |
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| A jog across the Charles Bridge, Prague |
Where has the time gone? Last I wrote, two early season marathons were in the bag and everything was looking up. It hasn’t been so simple. Immediately after writing I threw out my back after a run and was unable to compete in my third marathon of the “fall season”. I feared a stress fracture but it turned out to be muscular. Once running again, I started joining my training buddies for the weekly 27k time trial (22k of running before the group 5k). That will put some hair on your chest. While still relatively fresh in the training, I laid down my best time on the run to work, an 8-mile effort over the hills and along the crazy road.
I bounced back for the Tough One, a 20 mile race through the hardest hills my neighborhood has to offer. Constantly climbing or descending, the race is unrelenting. My effort was marked as conservative for the first part, trying to make sure not blow out early. I crossed the half marathon mark in about 1:28, cooking considering the hills. The next 6Km were almost entirely uphill, so I had to give back a decent amount of time. Legs toast, I pushed on in for a 2:13:25, good for 6:40/mile (2:54:48 marathon) over those hills. I was happy with this time, but it left me a bit slow for a couple of weeks.
Then it all went south. A pulled calf muscle left me limping for days, taking rest days periodically to shake it. Bronchitis set in, limiting my running. And the job hunt came to a head leaving me exhausted, stressed and lost. My running suffered for a week. But I got a job and flew to Europe where I embarked on a 1-hour per day plan to maximize my fitness while on vacation. Last year I managed a measly 30 minutes on a treadmill in Egypt. But this year I have decided to double that, and with most of it in some really amazing locations, it hasn’t been hard (just cold). My goal this year is to do more running than last year – not in marathons or long runs, per se, but to be more consistent and strong during the week. I will skip the weekend single and occasional double marathons in place of a 20 miler and a 15 miler, as long as those runs are strong and allow me the recovery to go out and put in about 17 miles on Thursdays and another 10 on Tuesdays. It is here where I hope to improve my overall fitness. I am sure I will still jump in the occasional 42KM effort.
Last year from November to December I ran 245.26 miles which is 40.9 miles per week. This year during the same period I have put in 329.35 miles or 54.9 miles per week. At 14 mpw more and nearly 90 miles more under me, I am on my way to my goal of a stronger me.
This year I am running the Boston Marathon. I couldn’t resist going back to Boston after the attacks last year and I am excited to be a part of one of the world’s greatest races again. I originally thought I would go there to race but now I want to stay focused on Comrades training. I will still put in a very solid effort and since my PR is not strong, I could get it by ultra training anyway. It will just depend on the travel and weather. More on this later. Comrades, of course, will be the defining effort. I MUST get silver this year or I may miss out on my chance to own one as we are leaving South Africa in June.
To cap it off, I won a lottery spot for Tahoe Rim Trail 100 miler in July. Michael and I are in! More on this later. Have some work to do first.
