Last few weeks of training

I'm now 5 of 16 weeks into this current marathon training block.  This is some of the most intense running I've really ever done.  Weeks 3, 4 and now 5 have seen my mileage go from 34 miles up to my week 5 mileage of 46 miles.

I'm looking forward to a small cutback week in week 6 where I will only run 42-43 miles.  I've continued to most of my training on the roads, trying as best as possible to forgo the treadmill.  Although due to the crazy mid-atlantic weather I had to do some of my midweek mini long runs on the treadmill due to the rain.

I'm also figuring out nutrition and that it's possible I'm not eating enough calories and carbing up enough before some of the long runs and I need to snack a little more than I am now and drink more water.  I continue to feel confident that the DC RnR marathon in March will be a good one.

This is the first time since starting running that I have broken 1,300 miles for the year and have run 100 miles or more for 9 of 12 months.  By the end of 2015 I will have also run over 6,000 miles since November 14, 2009 when I first started using dailymile.

Turkey Trot fun and marathon hijinx

This past week was week 1 of the 16 week 660 mile training plan I'm using to run the Rock n Roll DC marathon on March 12th, 2016.  I haven't gotten to heavy mileage quite yet and won't for quite a while.  The plan I'm using has me running 5 days a week with 1 cross training day and 1 rest/cross training day.  Those days are usually Thursdays and Sundays.  However, Thanksgiving was Thursday and my daughter (who was home from college) and I have a standing tradition of running the Towson Y! Turkey Trot 5K.  This year was a blast and just a bit warmer than last year.

For marathon training I took Monday and Tuesday off and ran Wednesday-Sunday.  The plan called for 29 miles but I only got in 24 miles which was OK.  I kept most everything easy and under control and even ran on the treadmill for a few miles.

Right before Black Friday I bought and new GPS watch, the Garmin Forerunner 220.  The nice thing about the watch is it locks on to GPS signals with in 10 seconds and it also can sync up your data to your phone instead of having to go to a computer.  Lastly it uses and accelerometer to count your steps per minute and also when the GPS is off it uses your steps to try and get your miles too.

I still want to qualify for Boston and we'll see if that happens but after a 5:15 in Pittsburgh and a 4:51 in NYC, I'll see if upping my mileage to around 41 to 42 miles per week will make a dent.