Back-to-back 50-mile weeks

I had an 8-mile recovery run today. I usually run Town Lake for recovery runs because the surface is flat and soft.

But instead I met with some other Team Rogue members on the East Side of Austin and we ran 8 miles through the Capitol area and the University of Texas campus. Very hard surface. Hills everywhere.

My legs, which have given me back to back 50-mile weeks for the first time in my short running career, finally cried "Uncle."

Don't be alarmed. I didn't get injured today and I didn't cramp up. I just didn't feel like running. My legs were absolutely dead. On top of that, I had a crazy stomach (too much wine the night before) and felt like my bowels were going to explode any minute. Even though the run was twice as short as Satuday's 16-miler, it felt twice as hard.

I've got a four-mile run scheduled for Monday. I plan to run slow and on the soft surfaces at Town Lake. Hopefully that will put my legs in a better mood.

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After Saturday's 16-mile run, our coach, Steve Sisson, talked to us about the importance of building a big base of mileage before getting into the nitty gritty of speedwork in a marathon program.

His point, and I agree, is that most people in our group could run a sub 6-minute-mile if it was the only mile they had to run. The problem, he said, is stringing together 26 consecutive 6-minute-miles.

"See, its not that you guys are not fast enough to run a 6-minute-mile," he said. "It's that you are not strong enough."

And so to get strong, we've got to pile on the miles. Build a big base, as they say. And that's what I'm trying to do. I've run 51 and 55 miles the last two weeks, which is the first time I've ever ever ever put together back-to-back 50-mile weeks.

I'm scheduled for another 50-mile week this week and then there is a step back week, where I "only" run 40 miles.

Then I will continue ramping up the mileage and hope to hold somewhere at about 60 miles a week. If I don't break down, this should give me a strong enough base to make a run at a Boston Qualifying time.

Happy running!