Putting in the miles

There are few things as satisfactory to me lately as writing down my mileage on my current training plan. Before I started training for this marathon I planned out about 20 weeks on Excel, using Brad Hudson's marathon level 2 plan as a template. Though I've moved workouts around here and there and had to miss a couple for schedule, weather, and injury reasons, for the most part I've been logging almost all the miles my plan called for.

I feel great when I write in pencil underneath my planned workout the actual miles I ran that day. It's great when the day calls for 6 miles easy with 10 X 10 second hill sprints and I can write down 6.2 miles. It's like doing the extra credit problems at the end of a high school math assignment. You don't have to do them, but when you do you know you've accomplished something. You know the teacher's going to look at your paper and say, "Wow, not only did he do all the problems, he even did the extra credit! What a bright kid."

Sure, there's no one looking at my training plan, but I still feel like a bright kid when I run a few tenths of a mile farther than the workout calls for. Because not only does it mean I did a little extra, it also means that I have a little cushion later in the week if I need to cut a run short.

Last week was a pretty good week of running. My hip was a little sore after the GW,MA virtual race, so I took an extra day off. Even with that day off I managed a little over 50 miles. This week I'm looking to go over 50 again and after a 9+ mile run this morning I'm well on my way.