TransRockies Run Training Week 8

This week was a little bit weird.  The taper began and and big weekend miles didn’t feel so big.  Tapering is always a strange place to be.  For weeks you are pushing as hard as you can to keep increasing your strength and endurance then suddenly, you start going the other direction.  The big event is still looming and you are relaxing, it’s unnatural.

Here is the re-cap of week 8:

Tuesday, August 3: 6 miles – Second run in the Brooks Ghost 3s, its official I like them. Funny they remind me of the Newton Sir Issacs trainers. My legs felt a little rusty from the long runs last weekend, but by the end of the run everything was going quite smoothly.
In my post run shower I got a bit philosophical about running and competition. I have come to the conclusion that I am competing against myself and lately I have been winning.
Wednesday August 4: 8 miles on bike
Thursday, August 5: 8 mile Tempo run – Mixed my tempo work out with some hills. Here are my mile splits, see if you can guess where the hills were:
Mile 1: 8:29
Mile 2: 8:08
Mile 3: 8:51
Mile 4: 10:01
Mile 5: 9:12
Mile 6: 8:40
Mile 7: 8:56
Mile 8: 8:51
Saturday, August 7: 12 miles running 2 miles hike with wife – I can’t believe it.  I have been looking forward to the TransRockies Run for over a year and I will be off and running in 14 days.  It is bittersweet.  I know there will be some post event lows after this run.  So much of my time has been spent preparing for it.  I have NYC and the HAT coming up so it shouldn’t be that bad. Good 12 miles this morning. Going camping with my girl.
Sunday, August 8: 16 miles – Well, after some rowdy campfire drinking with some friends for my friend Michele’s 30th B-day, I thought today’s run would be a lot rougher.  While it was a hard workout, it was hard for the right reasons.  It was hot out there and I think I wanted to punish myself.  I chose a pretty hilly route and went out of my way to run down Bellemore and run back up the notorious hill.  It’s a good quad buster.  I had a few more good hills on this 16 miles.  I am glad to have one more week of training under the belt.

-Believe in the Run