Week in Training: Jan 19-Jan 25

Well this week sure has been interesting.  The Chicagoland area has had some rather frigid temperatures, which reached sub-zero at least once in the past week.  I started out the week on Saturday meeting up with a co-worked and friend.  He's fit.  He's strong.  He's not a runner.  He hates running.  I've worked out with him once before and felt like I had been whipped through a boot camp.  I was scheduled to run 7 miles but ended up running 6.34 miles. I was originally planning on getting to my 4 mile mark while waiting for Danny to arrive at the Rollins Forest Preserve.  I found myself placed at the agreed meeting spot just up from 3 miles and Danny was in the parking lot.  We stretched out a bit, went on a 3.2 mile run.  For a guy that doesn't run much, he can run pretty quickly.

Running with Danny made me realize two things.  I need a running partner.  I can train faster than I do.    My first three miles were all in the 9:30-9:45 range.  Running with Danny we picked up the pace a bit.  We completed the 3 miles around the 9:00 pace.  We did stop to walk a bit, but I'm positive that's because I'm not used to training that fast, but my body is perfectly capable of it.

This got my ass in gear and got me to finally send in my registration for the Grayslake Running Club.  Back in November I attended a social gathering they put on at Buffalo Wild Wings and met a few people there that seemed like a lot of fun.  Achievement of the week: Registered for GRC.

With the 6+ mile long-run behind me, I delayed my first short run until Wednesday when it should have been Tuesday.  I'm not entirely sure why I ran 4.4 miles at a 10:25 pace but it sure seemed slow.  Not sure if my mind wasn't in the game that day.  The second short run followed the next day (probably not a good idea) but I need to get the mileage in and that was at a much better 9:38/mi. I ran 2 loops of our neighborhood with a few detours and actually had fun, felt a bit like a hamster in a wheel.

So far I've put about 50 miles on my Saucony Pro Guide 5 shoes.  They feel great.  My feet feel well supported.  Winter training for a spring marathon isn't going as badly as I had thought it would.  Even though they're not representative of the entire running community, I'm running more miles at a faster pace than most men my age.