Locked In

Training Summary
I am starting to feel like I am training instead of just running every day. My workout on Thursday went well and I think that I will be ready to run fast on the track this summer if I can stay healthy and be consistent at the 80 to 90 mile range with a workout and long run each week. The long run on Sunday went fine and it was good to run with Ruben, who was in town to run a huge 5K PR at the BU Terrier Invitational (congrats also to Terry for running a big time PR in the same race). Even with two days of 30 minute runs, I was still able to hit around 80 miles for the week.

The original plan was to race a 10K next weekend, but the race is apparently pretty popular and registration closed when they filled all of their entries early. I might do the Stew Chase 15K instead or just hold off on racing a little longer. My only concern is that I want to have a few races under my belt for the New Bedford Half Marathon. At this point, I am thinking that I will take a break from the marathon distance for a while and try to set some PRs at shorter distances, considering I haven't broken any of my college marks since graduating. I am confident that my 5K and 10K PRs are within reach.

Monday
90 minutes
Tuesday
80 minutes
Wednesday
30 minutes
Thursday
30 minute WU, 4 x 5 minutes hard/3 minutes easy fartlek, 4 x Franklin Park hill in 1:44 to 1:48, 25 minute CD
Friday
100 minutes
Saturday
30 minutes
Sunday
130 minutes
Total
560 minutes

Holler of the Week
Not much in the holler department lately. This time of year, I mostly just get a lot of people saying stuff like "I know you cold!" Probably the best thing I heard this week while running came from a guy on my Monday night run. As I approached him, he kept yelling "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah..." while pumping his fist in rhythm. When I passed him, he screamed "Let's goooooooooooooo!" He was definitely more excited about my run than I was.

In terms of non-running hollers, thanks to all of my friends who sent me messages about the Maryland/Duke basketball game on Saturday. I had to stop watching at halftime and probably should have stopped much earlier. At one point, the game was going on and ESPN was instead showing some guest sideline reporter who was a player on the Duke women's team. I was so frustrated that I was cursing at the TV loud enough that one of my roommates peeked out of her room to see if I was OK. After I stopped watching the game, I made some lunch and broke a plate by accident in the process. I was so unbelievably pissed that think I was close to having a stroke because I was literally seeing spots. At least I was able to escape to watching the episodes of Lost that I missed during the week. So good.

Epiphany Story of the Week
Some of my coworkers and I organize a group for the boys at Epiphany that meets on weekends and is creatively named Boys' Group. Usually, meetings include a study hall and then gym time. In the past, we have gone on field trips to see movies, organized community service days, and hosted a karate instructor for special occasions. This past Friday into Saturday, we hosted our most ambitious Boys' Group event to date: a lock-in. The kids were super excited for the lock-in all week (one kid told my coworker on Tuesday that he already had all of his stuff laid out in his room, ready to go) and we had an outstanding turnout. Between basketball, video games, and movies, there was something for all of the kids and they lived it up, though they probably would have been happy with much less (the simplest wish came from a 5th grader who only wanted to run around the school with his shoes off). I spent the night playing basketball and Halo 3 (by the end of the night, I had all of the kids calling double kills DKs and Donkey Kongs), eating junk food, and watching movies and loved it. I'm sure I'll pay for the lack of sleep (I managed to sneak in three hours) but it was worth it for sure.

Song of the Week
I have had Paper Planes in my head for most of my runs this week, but my song of the week is actually one that comes three weeks late. It would have been much more fitting in my first post of 2009, but now will have to do. The song is "In the New Year" and the band is The Walkmen. I'm even mixing it up a bit with a live version that rocks pretty hard. They won't let me embed the video, so all I can give is a link. Enjoy.