What a week!

Spring is finally here, and I was able to log my biggest mileage week tfor 2008. I pulled in around 73-74 miles on some serious terrain. It was hard work, but also lots of fun.

The most fun was running with two fellow VT100 runners, Mark and Scott, and one of their running buddies, Bruce, on Saturday. We ran the Northern Nipmuck course in about 3:10 or so. Mark headed out for more, but I had to get home. Great guys! I shared some hard earned VT100 knowledge as they'll be running their first 100. It should be fun!

I really wanted to get some serious mileage in on the weekend, so went out for a cool 30 at the reservoir on Sunday. I pushed pretty hard on the first 15 and then met Dawn for the next 7+. I was hoping she would be going easy, but she had other ideas. I was following her and wondering if I could hang with her. She eased up on the hills and on the technical stuff, but let it rip on the flats. You go girl! It was good for me, but I was hurting after 22.5 and cruised the last 8 at a little better than survival pace. It was a beautiful day though, and I was just happy to log a cool 30 after running N. Nipmuck on Saturday. 47 miles for the weekend sounds good to me!

I only logged 3 days during the week, but it was high quality. Tuesday was my hill repeat day and Thursday was speedwork on the treadmill. The hills seemed a little easier, but the time was the same. I was a bit better on the speed workout, but just marginally.

I think I am gaining fitness and endurance, but the speed seems to be an issue. I think I'm in better shape than December, but it's hard to tell at this point. Northern Nipmuck should be a good data point although the only time I ran it was 2002. It should be a good group of runners...even the Legend, Rich Fargo, is reportedly running this year.

I still can't believe it's 2 months to go before Memorial Day weekend (Pinetrails 50) and almost 4 months to Vermont 100. Wow! Can I maintain this level of intense training for 3+ months?

It's been really fun pushing my limits, looking for opportunities to improve in training, diet, etc. It will be interesting to see how this all comes together :-)