Monday 211


I'll start of with a brief lowdown on the last week and a half of WO's .

Running wise- last week was superb. Built up a solid 38 mile week that culminated with a 18 miler that I felt brought me up to where I was last November. Definitely instilled confidence that I lost after the holidays as well as re-invigorated my love of running.

I'm convinced that the more volume you can safely do, the more efficient you become. Here's the rub....efficient...not faster.

But guess what ? The more efficient and economical you run, the less your pace deteriorates which means you will in turn be faster.

When I run with guys & gals that are over an hour faster than myself in a marathon, they are never that far ahead of me for the first hour or so, its what happens after mile 9-10 .

Because they keep their pace up they pull away, so I'm slowly learning that running the marathon is all about putting in the time and miles .

Now I'm sure there are exceptions to the above, but not all of us have superb genetics and natural talent.

Up until this week I was on the fence about my run ability, but I think if I just perservere and be patient, I'll get to Boston one day.

Last week I got some solid pool time in as well. Averaging 1800-2200 yds a session, but most of it is quality drill and sets. No more straight endurance swims. I'll introduce that a month before I actually start racing......if I even do this season. Still thinking about just running and MTB racing.

Also happy with my indoor bike sessions. Getting in some big gear work....about 15 mins during an hour session.

Overall trying not to get into the higher HR zones during my base camp. One session I'll do some pick ups , but I only hold it for less than a minute. Mostly just to get the leg speed up.

I've got to promise myself to really take it easy on the swim as this is where I tend to hit LT.

In other news......... my daughter won her first 50 Free of the season ! WooT ! She's on the verge of going sub-29 secs on the 50, and sub-1:04 in the 100 Free.

She also won her heat at this weekends Bershire County Individuals Meet at Simon's Rock College in GB, Mass.

She was seated 17th of 92 girls and got a W ! Thats huge because this meet is the best of the best in our tri-state area.

Considering she's only a sophomore, her times are very good. Her age group best is about 27.2 for a year round Div 1 school.

She doesn't swim year round...so not too bad, now that she's gotten the taste of victory....thats going to change. We feel she can hit sub 27 by next year and hopefully 25ish by the time she's a Senior. This will give her a solid chance of getting a full swim scholarship with a Div II university thats got a struggling or new swim team. Coupled with the fact she's got ethnicity and superb GPA's , her future looks promising ! Thank God.. I might have a Dara Torres jr. in the works.

This week is going to be a test of my multi-tasking ability. Lots of work to print in the studio, need to finish our taxes by Wed, get another 38-40 mile run week in as well as work on the Audi and its new Go-Fast parts.

I hope everyone out there is well and healthy...anyone running a marathon this spring ???